Social Worker​/Client Advocate

Overview

The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS) is a community-based, client-centered, holistic public defense office located in Harlem, providing the highest quality legal representation in criminal, civil, immigration and family courts to residents of Northern Manhattan and the Bronx who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.

The Family Defense Practice at NDS represents parents in family policing cases (sometimes called “child welfare” or “child protection” cases) filed by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) as well as related family court cases, including custody, visitation and termination of parental rights proceedings. Through our holistic approach to representation, the Family Defense Practice provides parents with the help they need—both inside and outside of court—to keep their families safe and stable.

NDS is committed to advancing due process rights for parents by fighting unwarranted state intervention in their lives and advocating for related systemic change. The non-attorney advocate (social worker or client advocate) is an essential part of a client’s interdisciplinary team and will work closely with team administrators, litigation assistants and attorneys to provide vigorous advocacy to clients with ACS, foster agencies, and service providers.

NDS is seeking to hire at least one social worker and/or client advocate to start as soon as possible.

• Provide energetic, enthusiastic, and creative client-centered holistic advocacy for clients targeted by the family policing system;
• Work as part of the interdisciplinary team, including attorneys and other non-attorney advocates, to determine case strategy;

For social worker role, contribute to legal strategy by analyzing and assessing clients’ past diagnoses, service participation, and treatment history, as well as other mitigating factors.

• Advocate for clients in-person and virtually at ACS and foster agency case conferences;
• Advocate for clients in-person and virtually at school, hospital, and other meetings related to litigation;
• Meet with clients in-person and virtually in collaboration with attorneys to prepare for court appearances;
• Conduct client interviews and assessments in-person and virtually to determine social work needs;
• Identify and secure placement of clients in programs and services intended to advance cases with allegations of mental illness, addiction, domestic violence, and disability;
• Work with clients to determine if any community resources serve their legal and/or social work needs;
• Communicate and advocate with service providers about clients' needs;
• Provide crisis intervention management;
• Participate in training, individual and group supervision, meetings and case conferencing with your supervisor and interdisciplinary team;
• Attend court appearances with clients;
• Staff intake in court regularly, as assigned;
• Acquire a robust institutional knowledge of ACS policy and practices;
• Must be able to work at least 14 hours a week in person in the Harlem, Bronx or court satellite office(s), and more as neededin support of providing excellent representation.

• NDS is seeking applicants with a demonstrated commitment to parents’ rights, indigent defense, social justice issues and/or the Harlem and/or Bronx communities;
• Experience working in Family Court and/or the family policing system preferred;
• Lived experience with the Family Policing System and other systems impacting NDS’s clients preferred;
• Must possess excellent interpersonal, analytical, writing, and communication skills;
• Must possess strong organizational skills and the ability to be flexible in order to manage a high caseload in a very fast-paced environment;
• Must be comfortable in a court environment, and potentially testify under oath in special circumstances;
• Familiarity with Harlem and the Bronx community a plus;
• Spanish language fluency is strongly preferred;
• For social worker role, Master's Degree in Social Work required and experience working with adults managing mental health diagnoses preferred for consideration.

Compensation

Compensation is commensurate with experience and is in adherence to the NDS compensation scale. For a social…