Family Advocate

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More than 400 children this year will find hope and healing at the 15th Judicial District Child Advocacy Center (CAC). Our CAC works every day to help child victims of abuse. We are searching for a Family Advocate to join our mission – to reduce the trauma of child abuse and facilitate healing.

The 15th CAC works to give the best service possible to child victims and their parents & caregivers, using evidence-based best practices to meet the challenge of helping kids heal. This position is responsible for coordinating the care offered to children and their families.

The 15th CAC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit located in Lebanon, TN, serving children since 2008. We serve the 15th Judicial District, which consists of five counties:
Jackson, Macon, Smith, Trousdale, and Wilson. Our staff is a group of people who care about children and each other. Children come to our CAC for a forensic interview after allegations of abuse. We use a multi-disciplinary approach, collaborating with law enforcement, DCS, the district attorney’s office, medical, and mental health professionals to help children. In a nutshell, we bring together the people who help child victims of abuse, which helps make the process easier for the child and their family.

The Family Advocate provides resources to parents/caregivers to ensure children have access to the resources they need to heal. This is a full time position, working 37.5 hours per week.

On a day-to-day basis, you might:

• Coordinate with the Forensic Interviewer to schedule meetings with families
• Welcome a child and their family to the CAC, introducing them to the people present for the forensic interview
• Go over paperwork with the parent/caregiver, listen to their needs and consider how to help
• Update the child’s file on our secure databases and paper files
• Work with our Child Protective Investigative Team (comprised of members from DCS, law enforcement, district attorneys, mental health and medical providers, and CAC staff) to ensure children and families have the services they need to heal
• Follow up with parents to ensure children are getting resources and to evaluate other needs

• Ideally, we are looking for individuals who have some or all of the following as a background:
• Bachelor’s degree in human service field or equivalent experience preferred
• Experience in a professional office environment
• Three years of direct experience with children
• Sound ethics, including the protection of confidentiality
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, including courtesy, professionalism, and a cooperative attitude
• Maturity and experience in successfully working with a team
• Ability to work with diverse client populations
• Ability to exercise good judgement, discretion, tact, and diplomacy
• Working knowledge of parent-child interaction, child development, substance abuse, and the dynamics of child abuse, child sexual abuse and neglect, domestic violence, and the ability to apply this information in working with clients
• Communication and problem-solving skills to effectively work with families, including crisis intervention
• Ability to analyze and evaluate community resources for families and barriers that prevent the family from receiving prompt and immediate service
• Organizational skills to independently manage workload and related responsibilities
• Ability to be flexible, prioritize, and manage multiple activities, all while keeping an emphasis on quality
• Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, proficient computer skills, and ability to maintain current documentation in the agency’s databases
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English – Spanish fluency would be a plus!
• Attention to detail – in the world of child abuse investigations, detail is crucial

The CAC is part of a larger Child Protective & Investigative Team. We not only value compassionate care for the children and families we serve, but we also provide a soft place…