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About Graham:

Graham provides life-changing tools and resources for children, young adults and families who face some of the most difficult obstacles caused by poverty, racial injustice, and lack of access to educational opportunities, living wage employment, quality healthcare, and affordable housing.

We collaborate with communities and strong partners to create and implement innovative strategies so everyone can lead healthy, joyful, and successful lives.

Program Description:

The Family Treatment/ Rehabilitation Program (FTR) located in Brooklyn, NY offers intensive preventive case management services to families at risk of removal of children to foster care due to neglect and abuse. Risk factors for families served by the FTR program are sometimes advanced as a result of caretakers’ drug use and/ or mental illness. The stressors of poverty, substance use, instability and criminal justice involvement can greatly compromise a parent’s capacity to care for her children, despite strong desires to be engaged. Our goal is to partner with families to keep them together while ensuring that children will be safely cared for.

Principal Objective/Role Overview:

Family Advocates assist their unit’s team in efforts to develop and promote early engagement with parents whenever a new intake is assigned within the first 30 days and to help with advocacy around resources and services offered in their communities.

Job Responsibilities:

• Engagement 
  • Build relationships and support parents in coping with the trauma of child welfare involvement, making decisions for their families and communicating effectively with those involved in their case.
  • Partner with case planners to help families engage and navigate targeted resources
  • Prepare parents and participate in Family Team Conferences including but not limited to ERC, Safety Conference, Service Termination Conference, Six Month Service Plan Review, Joint home visits, Administrative Meeting with Families as well as 30 / 45-day conferences, Six Month Service) and court proceedings.  
  • Encourage parents to engage in supportive interventions that will strengthen their families. 
  • Encourage parents to participate in our Family Success Interventions (Baby & Me, Visit Outreach to parents via text messages, phone calls or emails to build relationships while connecting parents to community resources as needed.
  • Review Parent Engagement Guide with parents to acquaint parents with the child welfare processes.
• Coaching
  • Coach parents to develop skills that will allow them to independently develop problem-solving skills while discovering their strengths, hopes, dreams as well as their priorities. 
  • Work in collaboration with Case Planner to appropriately assess the needs of the parents to create measurable goals while determining what barriers could affect the desired outcomes.
  • Facilitate bi-weekly support groups utilizing Network and Parent Café Model, (staff to be trained in the model).
  • Escort parents to scheduled court appearances for support, to scheduled appointments or shopping to purchase items requested by the agency.
  • Recognize and celebrate parents whenever they make simple or significant progress service goals. 
• Collective Approach
  • Collaborate and maintain effective and timely communication with team members, case planners as well as other stakeholders to ensure that the overall needs of the parents are met. 
  • Participate in routine case consultation with case planning teams in order to ensure the parents are following through with their required service plan while demonstrating behavior change.
  • Participate in joint home visits with case planners as needed to provide the required support to both parents.
  • Assists parents in establishing structure during home visits and meeting the needs of their children by utilizing hands on teaching and modeling techniques.
  • Ensure that the provision of services is informed by principles outlined in both the Solutions Based Casework, Parenting Journey, and Appreciative Inquiry.
• Professional Development
  • Attend and actively participate in skill development training to improve the way we approach the work, keep current with structural changes within the agency/child welfare.
  • Contribute agenda items and participate in weekly supervision with assigned supervisor. 
  • Prepare parents to participate in the birth parent roundtable. 
  • Participate in policy/advocacy development and decisions
• Data/Documentation
  • Maintain and document interactions with parents within the database (Connections).
  • Submit monthly tracker to supervisor regarding contacts made with parents in a timely manner. 
  • Assist in eliciting feedback from parents on their experience.

Position Qualifications: 

• REQUIRED: Previous life experience being impacted by the child welfare system as a parent including having had a child placed in foster care or having had a court-ordered supervision case.  Other prior child welfare involvement such as having personally experienced child welfare investigations may also qualify.  Previous child welfare cases must be closed for at least one year
• College experience is a plus, High School Diploma, or its equivalent (GED) is preferred but not required
• Good verbal and written communication skills are required.
• Knowledge of child and adolescent development 
• Ability to work with and engage hard-to-reach populations, as well as families impacted by trauma, poverty, complex stressors, violence, mental health, juvenile justice and substance abuse
• Culturally competency and trauma-informed approach 
• Computer literate  
• Ability to complete paperwork in a timely manner, flexible, willing to travel, while working well with peers. 
• Capable of traveling and working with families in their homes and communities 
• Knowledge of the Preventive or foster care system preferred.
• A strong interest in the enhancement of the quality of life for those who depend upon the agency’s services.
• Required Trainings: Appreciate Inquiry, Protective Factors, Parent Café, Therapeutic Crisis Intervention, Visit Coaching, Rise (Visiting Tips), Motivational Interviewing, SBC, Documentation/ Progress notes and Connection Trainings, Addressing crisis issues and de-escalation, Motivational interviewing and professional boundaries in the workplace, Family Coaching Guide, Legal (Understanding the legal process or CW cases), Medicaid Compliance, Mandated Reporter, Be trained to facilitate Restorative Justice Peacekeeping Circles to support parents through weekly circles (meetings) at the agency and/or in community

Salary & Compensation:

• Salary: $50,922.97 - $52,922.97/year
• FLSA Status: Non-Exempt
• Benefits Eligibility: This role is eligible to participate in our Performance Based Merit Award program at the end of each fiscal year, and eligible for benefits including health insurance, retirement plans (pension and 403B thrift), career coaching via Bravely, and more!

EEO Statement

The Equal Employment Opportunity Policy of Graham is to provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all associates and job applicants regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability. Graham hires and promotes individuals solely based on their qualifications for the job to be filled.

Graham believes that associates should be provided with a working environment which enables each associate to be productive and to work to the best of his or her ability. We do not condone or tolerate an atmosphere of intimidation or harassment based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability.

We expect and require the cooperation of all associates in maintaining a discrimination and harassment-free atmosphere.