Job Description
The Center for Family Representation, Inc., (CFR) is an award-winning, innovative law and policy organization that was founded in 2002 to dramatically change the trajectory of indigent families impacted by child welfare and to reduce the number of children entering foster care. CFR introduced a new model of legal services to parents charged with abuse or neglect: we assign every client an attorney and a social work staff member, and teams are additionally supported by Parent Advocates. CFR's Parent Advocates are parents with direct personal experience of being impacted by the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), such as having been investigated or prosecuted by ACS or lost temporary custody of their children to foster care or otherwise due to the ACS involvement. CFR was the first agency in the country to integrate parents with lived experience into legal teams. Beginning with just a handful of staff, CFR now has more than 120 staff serving more than 2400 parents annually in Manhattan and Queens. CFR has been the primary, county-wide provider of legal services to indigent parents in Manhattan Family Court since 2007 and in Queens Family Court since 2011. In 2015, CFR expanded its practice to provide legal and social work services to parents in immigration, civil legal services and criminal defense matters. In 2019, we launched two new initiatives: a Youth Defense Practice that provides holistic, interdisciplinary defense to youth being prosecuted in the Family Court, and in the Youth Parts in Manhattan and Queens Supreme Courts; and a Community Advocacy Project, to represent parents during a child protective investigation (prior to court involvement) and to assist parents in clearing their names from state maltreatment records. We regularly train over 500 practitioners annually around the country on strategies to promote family preservation and on holistic, interdisciplinary representation and advocate at the city, state and national level for policies that promote parent engagement and justice for families.
CFR has an immediate opening for a Staff Attorney in our Bronx and Queens offices.
Primary responsibilities
- Work as part of CFR’s interdisciplinary legal teams (comprised of attorneys, social work staff, paralegals and parent advocates) to provide our clients with high quality legal defense and meet objectives such as keeping children out of foster care, shortening lengths of stay for children in foster care, promoting quality visiting arrangements and insuring that families receive services that are well-tailored to expediting safe and lasting reunification
- Represent parents in Family Court who are respondents in Article 10 and all related supplemental proceedings, including Termination of Parental Rights proceedings
- Pursue interim appeals on behalf of CFR’s clients
- Keep case data, client legal notes and files up to date
- Participate in CFR’s policy initiatives
- Work collaboratively with CFR's Home for Good teams
- Where appropriate, supervise law school interns
Attorneys joining CFR can expect intensive, interdisciplinary training on CFR’s Cornerstone Advocacy model, family court, the child welfare/family regulation system, client interviewing, and other critical skills. CFR is dedicated to providing ongoing professional development in best practices in all these areas in a variety of training forums for all staff.
Qualifications
- Applicants must be admitted to practice law in the State of New York or passed the New York State exam and is pending admission.
- Demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills, an ability to work as part of a team and a desire to share in both the exhilaration and challenges of a growing endeavor.
- Prior experience with public benefits, housing, criminal defense or immigration is preferred.
- Fluency in Spanish or other languages and experience with public benefits, education, housing or immigration is all desirable.
- Individuals who apply should be able to demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills, a commitment to interdisciplinary representation of parents and a desire to share in both the exhilaration and challenges of a growing endeavor.