Women Aware

Women Aware, Inc. is seeking a compassionate, organized, and dedicated Legal Advocate to join our Family Justice Center team. This position plays a critical role in supporting survivors of domestic violence by providing advocacy, safety planning, court accompaniment, supportive counseling, and referrals to community resources.

The ideal candidate is passionate about empowering survivors, knowledgeable about the judicial system, and committed to trauma-informed care and social justice.

Position Details

Legal Advocate Job Description

This job description is a broad outline of the responsibilities and duties of the Legal Advocate and will be amended, as needed, to meet the program priorities of Women Aware, Inc. (the “Agency”) and its ensuing work requirements. It should not be construed as a contract, and does not create a contract of employment. Employment with the Agency is at will.

Reports to: Director of the Family Justice Center

Status: Non-Exempt

Qualifications:

· Bachelor’s degree preferred

· 3 years experienced in domestic violence counseling and/or other direct services

· Knowledge of Criminal Justice a plus

· Good communication and writing skills

· Bilingual Hindi, Urdu or Spanish preferred

· Full time, M-F

· Drivers license: clean and valid

· Lifting up to 25lbs

General Responsibilities:

In collaboration with the Family Justice Center, this position carries the responsibility of providing direct services to victims of domestic violence. This includes, but is not limited to the following:

• Provide a safe, non-judgmental, and empowering environment to clients.
• Maintain positive working relationships with Middlesex County Family Court Officials and other community organizations
• Provide direct services to clients within the program in accordance with accepted standards of care and ethics of the profession.

Specific Duties:

• Provide victims with resources pertaining to the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, referrals, safety planning, and supportive counseling
• Provide direct services to DV victims, which includes explaining the judicial process/system and court accompaniment for restraining order hearings.
• Advocate with Law Enforcement, Family Courthouse personnel, Family Law Attorney, Prosecutors office and community organizations/agencies in order to facilitate the delivery and coordination of services
• Maintain and submit statistical information and reports accurately and timely
• Coordinate Legal Clinics and Workshops as directed by supervisor

· Connection to third-party immigration-specific resources such as U Visa, T Visa, VAWA self-petition and other immigration consultations

• Provide domestic violence training to faith-based leaders in the community
• Attend and actively participate in staff meetings, interdepartmental meetings, in-services, supervision, Agency events, etc.
• Other duties as assigned.

Reports to: PALS Coordinator

Status: Non-Exempt

Qualifications:

· Bachelor’s degree in social work or related field required, master’s preferred

· DV and group experience, preferred

· Excellent crisis intervention and case management skills required

· Bilingual-Spanish required

· Full time, M-Th, evenings

· Driver’s license – clean and valid

· Lifting up to 25 lbs.

General Responsibilities:

In collaboration with the PALS Coordinator, it carries the responsibility for providing case management services to adult victims of domestic violence. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

· Provide a safe, non-judgmental, and empowering environment for clients and staff.

· Provide individual case management and group counseling services in accordance with accepted standards of care and ethics of the profession.

· Work collaboratively with Agency staff and community agencies to facilitate the delivery of services.

Specific Duties:

· Responsible for ensuring the following direct services are provided to non-residential clients: hotline calls, intake appointments, individual weekly case management for PALS adults, group counseling, client advocacy, crisis intervention, resources and referrals.

· Manage childcare program following PALS curriculum as appropriate.

· Maintain case records for individual and group clients according to Agency documentation policy/procedure, administer evaluations and assessments, complete safety and goal plans with clients, and maintain other records as needed.

· Maintain contact with clients on the waiting list and update accordingly. Manage client database and hotline call log.

· Timely and accurately input statistics into the appropriate spreadsheets.

· Assist with submitting reports such as monthly program report, FVPSA, DV core stats, and PALS programmatic report to the PALS Coordinator.

· Other duties as assigned.

This job description is a broad outline of the responsibilities and duties of the Child Advocate and will be amended, as needed, to meet the program priorities of Women Aware, Inc. (the “Agency”) and its ensuing work requirements. It should not be construed as a contract and does not create a contract of employment. Employment with the Agency is at will.

Reports to: Director of Residential Services

Status: Non-Exempt

Qualifications:

· Bachelor’s degree preferred

· Childcare/Education experience preferred

· Bilingual Spanish preferred

· Full Time, 12 p.m. – 8 p.m.

· Driver’s license: clean and valid

Lifting up to 25lbs

General Responsibilities:

In collaboration with the Coordinator of Residential Services, the position carries the responsibility for providing supportive service to residential victims of domestic violence. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

· Provide a safe, non-judgmental, and empowering environment to clients.

· Facilitate childcare and educational activities.

· Coordinate services on behalf of children in a domestic violence shelter.

· Work collaboratively with Agency staff in order to facilitate comprehensive services.

Specific Duties:

· Ensure that residential children are connected with the appropriate resources including support, advocacy, crisis intervention, safety planning, parenting support, information, and referrals.

· Liaison between Women Aware and Boards of Education, coordinating transportation with the child’s school or assisting with referring child to enroll in new school system or childcare.

· Complete safety assessment with parents on car seats, sleep safety, and overall household safety.

· Provide direct client services including childcare as well as age-appropriate educational and/or recreational activities with safe house children.

· Ensure children are connected with appropriate services including therapy, early intervention, medical, dental, recreational, etc. Ensure each child leaves the program with a post-shelter services plan.

· Facilitate activities that promote parent/child bonding.

· Model non-violent conflict resolution and use of non-violent forms of discipline.

· Update and maintain the “Child Activity Log” as well as Childcare stats in order to manage contacts and hours of services provided.

· Create and maintain the child activities binder in order to document activities provided to clients.

· Inspect all toys, crafts, and games to ensure they are child-safe and have proper sanitation.

· Update and maintain Child Activities bulletin board.

· Alert Coordinator of Residential Services to any safety concerns.

· Other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Coordinator of Residential Services.