Public Guardian

Position: Public Guardian 1/2 (02-1560)

This position is open to Alaska Residents only. Please check our residency definition to determine if you qualify.

What You Will Be Doing

This is a flex position designed to support the development and progression of Public Guardians. The Public Guardian is responsible for managing all aspects of a vulnerable adult’s life, including financial, medical, housing, and personal decisions. New hires will begin at the PG1 level unless they have prior experience as a Public Guardian.

Public Guardian 1 Responsibilities

• Receive on the job training to conduct tasks associated with managing client finances, property, housing, court reports, and client visitation.
• Learn to provide surrogate or substitute decision making regarding client mental health care, vocational training and education, residential placement, choice of service providers, and protection of legal rights.
• Assist senior guardians with core competency tasks in order to become proficient with caseload work.
• Receive training necessary to become certified according to national guardian standards.

Public Guardian 2 Responsibilities

• Manage client finances, property, housing, court reports, and client visitation, including regular contact with clients.
• Provide surrogate or substitute decision making regarding client mental health care, vocational training and education, residential placement, choice of service providers, and protection of legal rights.
• Participate in court hearings and treatment/case planning meetings for clients.
• Obtain required certification as a registered guardian within one year of hire as a Public Guardian 2.

Our Organization, Mission, and Culture

The Public Guardian section of the Office of Public Advocacy (OPA) provides legal advocacy, guardianship, and conservatorship services to vulnerable adults throughout Alaska. The section includes Public Guardians located in four regional offices, including Juneau. The Public Guardian team in the Juneau office serves vulnerable adults in Southeast Alaska.

The Benefits of Joining Our Team

The Public Guardian section of OPA is a fast‑paced environment made up of individuals who care deeply about the well‑being of our clients. We are the appointment of last resort for these vulnerable adults and a place where compassion and problem solving are highly valued. The Public Guardian position has a planned career development, training, and advancement path. The Juneau Public Guardian office is located in downtown Juneau.

Juneau is a beautiful city with numerous opportunities for outdoor activities and thriving art and music scene.

The Working Environment You Can Expect

The Juneau Civil office of the Office of Public Advocacy is located in downtown Juneau next to the courthouse. Juneau’s small Public Guardian team consists of three public guardians, including one senior guardian, and support staff.

Who We Are Looking For

We are interested in candidates who possess some or all of the following position‑specific competencies:

• Advocacy:
  Develops and presents the client’s, patient’s, and/or customer’s interests in all matters.
• Decision Making:
  Makes sound, well‑informed, and objective decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions; commits to action, even in uncertain situations, to accomplish organizational goals.
• Problem Solving:
  Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

Competency Based

Minimum Qualifications Instructions

This job class uses competency based minimum qualifications. Please ensure your application (through work history, volunteer experience, training, education, licenses, certifications, etc.) supports how you have gained the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors (competencies) and that you possess the minimum required competencies for the job class.

Public Guardian 1 Competencies

• Integrity/Honesty: Contributes to maintaining the integrity of the organization; displays high standards of ethical conduct and understands the impact of violating these standards on an organization, self, and others; is trustworthy.
• Interpersonal
  
  Skills:
  
  Shows understanding,…