Children’s Law Center is a mission-driven organization focused on providing high-quality legal services to children and families in DC. As an organization, we envision a world in which all children have a strong foundation of family, health and education and are free from poverty, trauma, racism and other forms of oppression. Our mission is to do this work together with DC children and families, Children’s Law Center uses the law to solve children’s urgent problems today, improve the systems that will affect their lives tomorrow and strengthen our community so that change endures. A key part of our mission is to challenge and reduce ways in which racism and other biases – structural and interpersonal – prevent each of us, our organization and the systems in which we work from providing children a strong foundation from which to thrive.
Our greatest assets are our people. We recognize that people with diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives fuel our ability to provide the best outcomes for our clients and our community. Staff members at Children’s Law Center advance the organization’s mission through their leadership, result-oriented mindset and commitment to cultural humility. We are looking for individuals who like to be challenged to grow both personally and professionally and value the opportunity to make a difference in their community. Children's Law Center's continued success depends on recruiting and retaining individuals who possess and exemplify these attributes.
Program Description
Children's Law Center (CLC) has a long history of working with parents and caregivers to help them solve problems that threaten a child’s health, safety and well-being. By providing legal services at the right time, attorneys can lift burdens of poverty that often drain a client’s capacity to care for their child. Through our Families Together program, Children’s Law Center is expanding the range of legal assistance provided to parents and caregivers.
Families Together supports pregnant persons, parents and caregivers in achieving their goals for their families, with the long-term outcome of mitigating the risk of child welfare involvement and ensuring children can remain safely at home. To reach families, Children’s Law Center partners with community-based organizations, the Court and governmental agencies that share our commitment to strengthening DC families impacted by poverty.
Job Summary
The Family Support Advocate will team with lawyers who assist parents and caretakers of children in family law, housing, special education and public benefits matters. The primary role of the Family Support Advocate is to assist families with navigating non-legal needs that are barriers to them achieving stability for their children and to support attorneys in tasks related to legal representation. This position will focus on communicating with client families, providing advocacy support and guidance and connecting families with other community resources as appropriate. The position also involves assisting lawyers with other aspects of their representation including gathering court, school or medical records, meeting with clients in their homes and communities, interviewing clients, caretakers, teachers, medical professionals and witnesses, accompanying clients and their children to appointments, attending school and other meetings and testifying in hearings or trials.
Role Responsibilities
Support for Client Families
- Contacts family within two business days after receipt of case assignment to schedule a call to confirm non-legal support needs.
- Provides consistent and reliable communication to client families regarding case information and provides assistance and advocacy through in-person meetings, phone, text and email.
- Builds trust and rapport with client families using culturally respectful approaches to further families’ goals.
- Identifies and connects clients with relevant information and services to further families’ goals.
- Helps to develop and share materials to facilitate community engagement and understanding.
Provide Investigative and Advocacy Support to Attorneys
- Develops understanding of basic legal and ethical concepts and seeks guidance from attorneys and/or supervisor about assignments, legal terms, case theory and court procedures as needed.
- Follows all ethical rules of conduct during investigations.
- Prepares written records requests for information maintained by government entities, medical and corporate records and other non-governmental records. Takes all necessary steps to obtain such information and records.
- Gathers, synthesizes and summarizes information contained in records, reports, evaluations and research and identifies relevant facts/information for attorney review.
- Prepares and serves subpoenas and other similar documents.
- Files court documents, requests and obtains court records.
- Conducts school and housing investigations and responds to specific inquiries from attorneys.
- For relevant cases, identifies and locates witnesses and conducts interviews, helps prepare exhibits for court hearings and testifies at hearings.
- Assists with emergency assignments.
Workload Management
- Identifies relevant facts in cases and uses creativity and resourcefulness, identifies practical ideas and solutions to address potential problems that arise in completing assignments.
- Works effectively and efficiently on multiple assignments across multiple attorneys simultaneously.
- Keeps attorneys informed of progress on assignments and ensure deadlines are met.
- Manages time efficiently to complete case work, meeting assignment deadlines and other CLC responsibilities. Prioritizes tasks with attorney and supervisor input, especially when unexpected delays or scheduling conflicts arise.
- Maintains organized case information in electronic and hard copy files.
- Records all case activity in case management system promptly.
Required Skills and Experience
- A demonstrated commitment to social, economic and racial justice.
- Outstanding communication skills, including ability to explain complex processes in a simplified form.
- Strong writing skills, as demonstrated by products that are carefully prepared and exhibit a high attention to detail.
- Strong organizational skills with a demonstrated ability to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously.
- Considerable resourcefulness, creativity, initiative, tenacity and discretion.
- Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building skills.
- Experience in one or more of the following areas:
- providing advocacy support to families;
- living and/or working in and with communities dealing with issues of poverty;
- knowledge of DC community programs, opportunities and services, especially in Wards 7 and 8;
- working with families with children with special needs; or
- working on public health issues.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working with low-income communities and/or families strongly preferred.
- Strong conflict management skills, including experience with de-escalation of sensitive or highly emotional situations.
- Experience with customer service or community outreach and engagement.
- Experience working with attorneys or in a legal setting is a plus.
- Fluency in Spanish is preferred but not required.
Organizational Competencies
- Cultural Humility – an openness to self-reflection and to understanding and respecting other cultural experiences and points of view and viewing individuals as experts in their own culture and experiences.
- Giving and Receiving Feedback – the ability to be self-reflective, give and receive appreciative, coaching, constructive, interpersonal and evaluative feedback.
- Conflict Management – a process which is designed to guide individuals and groups from the moment of conflict to the implementation of an identified solution. This process incorporates skills and techniques, including recognizing points of conflict, identifying the facts and feeling involved to get to the root of the issue, investigation equitable solutions, implementing and evaluating solutions and supporting and guiding others throughout the process.
Salary and Benefits
The salary for this position ranges from $50,000 to $57,000 annually based on relevant experience. Children’s Law Center offers a generous benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, and short- and long-term disability insurance; employer-provided retirement contributions; flexible spending plans; and vacation, sick, holiday, family and medical leave. You can find more details about Children’s Law Center’s comprehensive benefits package at https://childrenslawcenter.org/get-involved/careers/employee-benefits/.
In order to provide better service to our clients and community, Children’s Law Center encourages individuals who speak Spanish to apply for this position. Candidates who indicate proficiency in Spanish will be asked to complete Spanish oral proficiency testing. Individuals hired for this role who are proficient in Spanish are eligible to receive a sign-on bonus after the start of employment.
Children’s Law Center is a 501(c)(3) organization. Employees with federal student loan debt can apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. For more information, go to https://myfedloan.org/borrowers/special-programs/pslf.
Application Instructions
To apply, please submit a resume via CLC's careers page (https://childrenslawcenter.org/get-involved/careers/).
Children’s Law Center is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. If you believe that you need accommodation to search for, or apply for, one of our positions please send an email to Jobs@ChildrensLawCenter.org. In your email, please include the accommodation you are requesting and the job title you are applying for. It may take up to three business days to receive a response to your request.
Hybrid Working Conditions
Children’s Law Center is currently operating on a hybrid work schedule. Employees are required to work in-person from Children’s Law Center’s office a minimum of two days per week. At least one of these days must be either Tuesday or Wednesday. The hybrid work schedule is subject to change based on organizational needs and/or best practices for health and safety. Hybrid work expectations may vary depending upon role responsibilities.
Work Authorization
Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. Children’s Law Center is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.
Background Checks
Candidates who receive a conditional offer of employment will be subject to a background check.
EEO
Children’s Law Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and existing employees. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to ancestry, age, color, disability, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, military or veteran status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law, ordinance, or regulation. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about our company and our career opportunities (https://childrenslawcenter.org/get-involved/careers/).
Our Commitment
Children’s Law Center is dedicated to building a world that is inclusive in approach and has equal opportunities and equitable outcomes for all. Our organization is committed to developing and supporting a robustly diverse, equitable, inclusive and anti-racist community, where all members can create and feel a sense of belonging. Through our collective deliberate efforts, we work toward racial and social justice for children and families in DC.
