Parent Advocate - Family Law Unit

Greater Boston Legal Services seeks two Parent Advocates to join our interdisciplinary Response Teams representing families who are involved with the Department of Children and Families (DCF). We call this project the Family Preservation Project (FPP). The FPP works in three-person “Response Teams” that include a lawyer, a case manager, and a parent advocate.

The FPP works with families at-risk of foster care removal by providing both legal representation in poverty-related legal matters like custody, 209A abuse prevention proceedings, housing, and public benefits, and by providing non-legal help related needs, such as preparing to meet with DCF workers and applying for needed services and benefits. The goal of the FPP is to prevent foster care removal and promote physical, financial, and emotional safety for custodial parents and their children.

Greater Boston Legal Services seeks to have a work force that reflects the communities we serve. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. We believe that a variety of professional and personal experiences will help us to create strong, insightful, and trusted teams.

Responsibilities

Parent Advocates will:

• provide mentorship and support to parents,
• attend DCF home visits with parents,
• help the family identify needs,
• connect parents with appropriate resources,
• assist in follow up with those resources, and
• regularly attend meetings with other Response Team members

Qualifications

GBLS seeks individuals from all backgrounds who:

• Have lived-experience with the Department of Children and Families in the past. By this we mean that we would like our parent advocate to be a person who has had one or more open DCF cases in the past and does not currently have an open DCF case.
• Are knowledgeable about community resources
• Have excellent communication skills
• Are comfortable speaking with clients, with DCF, and with community partners
• Are compassionate and patient
• Are organized
• Have experience supporting others in the community
• Have the ability to get to different locations throughout the Greater Boston region, as the position requires meeting with clients at their homes and at community partner organizations

In addition, it is helpful—not required —for candidates:

• To have a high school degree or a GED
• To Speak in a language commonly spoken by GBLS clients (e.g. Spanish, Haitian Creole, Arabic)
• Have the ability to get to different locations throughout the Greater Boston region, as the position requires meeting with clients at their homes and at community partner organizations