Impress employers and recruiters.
Choose from hundreds of resume examples.

Target Resume Now

Tailor your resume to this Forensic Social Worker, Juvenile Rights Trial Office role.

Rezi rewrites your resume against The Legal Aid Society's job description. Free.

Resume score gauge reading 58 out of 100

Don't guess if your resume is good enough.

See how it scores against the Forensic Social Worker, Juvenile Rights Trial Office posting at The Legal Aid Society — free, in seconds.

About the Role

The Juvenile Rights Practice (JRP) is seeking an experienced Forensic Social Worker to handle citywide immigration matters for Juvenile Rights clients. This role involves working with an interdisciplinary team to provide social work services primarily to undocumented New York City youth and unaccompanied immigrant JRP clients, advocating with ACS and foster care agencies to meet their social, health, and mental health needs.

Responsibilities

Provide short-term crisis intervention and clinical assessments of immigrant youth and children represented by JRP.
Make social service referrals to developmentally appropriate mental health and substance use treatment services, facilitate admission to psychiatric hospital or detoxification, and help clients to access social networks and support to reduce isolation.
Provide educational advocacy and assist with school enrollment.
Assess eligibility and refer clients for specific benefits available to undocumented individuals and families.
Assist clients in obtaining health insurance where necessary.
Review psychiatric records.
Advocate with courts, USCIS, asylum offices, either orally or in writing, to present client issues and mitigating circumstances.
Provide training to JRP staff on topics such as interdisciplinary collaboration, suicide prevention, mental health diagnoses, children and youth development, and youth-specific services.
Participate in consults with attorneys and joint attorney-client meetings.
Attend staff intake meetings and case conferences to provide general guidance on issues affecting the broader JRP caseload.
Assist with referrals to appropriate psychiatrist/psychologist for evaluation.
Support organizational initiatives to create a uniform practice across all boroughs.
Collaborate and communicate in an interdisciplinary environment.
Participate in training modules and contribute to the professional development of interdisciplinary teams.
Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

An MSW degree and New York State license in social work (LMSW) preferred, or MSW degree and ability to obtain New York State LMSW within 6 months of hire.
Strong diagnostic skills with experience working with children and adolescent clients with special needs including special education, mental illness (MICA), physical illnesses and physical disabilities, intellectual and developmental delays, and clients with histories of childhood sexual and physical abuse, survivors of trafficking and other forms of violence and trauma, as well as with histories of substance use.
Ability to interface with court personnel, immigration judges, school personnel, and NYC Admin for Children’s Services (ACS).
Ability to negotiate with community-based treatment providers and governmental agencies, including child welfare agencies, the Department of Education, HRA.
Ability to quickly develop treatment plans.
2+ years of relevant experience, including working with immigrant populations or trauma-informed care is strongly preferred.
Experience in and/or commitment to advocacy on behalf of low-income people, immigrants, and children strongly desired.
Ability to manage a reasonable volume of cases and solve problems creatively.
Excellent interpersonal, communication, organizational and court advocacy skills.
Proficiency in other languages, particularly Spanish language, is strongly desired.
Ability to work in and value collaborative team model.
Prior employment with Legal Aid, a plus.
All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship for a work visa or permit.
We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas or permits.

Skills

Interdisciplinary collaboration
Suicide prevention
Mental health diagnoses
Children and youth development
Youth-specific services
Diagnostic skills
Treatment planning
Interpersonal skills
Communication skills
Organizational skills
Court advocacy
Spanish language proficiency

Location

Citywide

Work Type

Full-time

Experience Level

2+ years of relevant experience

Education Level

MSW degree
New York State license in social work (LMSW)

Salary/Compensations

$83,631 - $125,627

Benefits

Health insurance
Paid vacation
Disability insurance
Life insurance
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
State and Federal loan forgiveness programs
New York state assistance with loan repayments

About the Company

The Legal Aid Society is committed to a work culture of zealous advocacy, respect, diversity and inclusion, client-oriented defense, access to justice and excellent representation.
We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our clients (people), to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs.
Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us and our ability to build strong relationships with our colleagues.
Every member of our community is expected to continuously learn about the dynamic, evolving, and emerging field of knowledge of identity, bias, and systemic forms of oppression and participate in productive efforts to dismantling bias in all forms.

Equal Opportunity

As an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer, The Legal Aid Society prohibits discriminatory employment actions against and treatment of its employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived race or color, size (including bone structure, body size, height, shape, and weight), religion or creed, alienage or citizenship status, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity (one’s internal deeply-held sense of one’s gender which may be the same or different from one’s sex assigned at birth); gender expression (the representation of gender as expressed through, for example, one’s name, choice of pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics; gender expression may not conform to traditional gender-based stereotypes assigned to specific gender identities), disability, marital status, relationship and family structure (including domestic partnerships, polyamorous families and individuals, chosen family, platonic co-parents, and multigenerational families), genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or pre-employment conviction record, credit history, unemployment status, caregiver status, salary history, or any other characteristic protected by law.