Family Advocate Evening Shift - Whittier, United States - Women's and Children's Crisis Shelter

Description

Job title:
Family Advocate Evening shift (3:30pm to 12:00am, Tue - Sat)


Department:
Emergency shelter


Reports to:
Shelter Director

For over 44 years, the Women's & Children's Crisis Shelter has provided programs and services that form a critical continuum of response, healing, and prevention to survivors of domestic violence and their families.

To encourage survivor self-determination, services are delivered through an intersectional, strengths-based, and trauma-informed lens that aligns with our mission of commitment to provide safety shelter and hope to victims of domestic violence.

Reporting to the Shelter Director, the Family Advocate ensures that the day-to-day operations of the emergency shelter meet and/or exceeds the program's quality, outcomes, and services to clients.

As a member of the shelter team, the Family Advocate supports Shelter Director in daily operations of the emergency shelter and promotes safety and empowerment to victims of domestic violence by providing advocacies.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Assists clients in identifying needs.
• Provides direct advocacy, crisis counseling, safety planning, case management, community referrals to adults and children impacted by domestic violence in person and on the phone using a strengthbased, clientcentered, traumainformed approach.
• Provides direct crisis intervention to clients when needed.
• Provides assistance for household cleaning maintenance, organization of donations and storage.
• Provide travel to local hospitals and police department when clients are in crisis.
• Maintains cooperative working relationships with and interacts with social/ public systems on behalf or with clients (CalWORKs, healthcare agencies, housing agencies, legal/court systems, social services agencies, transitional housing programs, law enforcement, Victim Services, resources, and referrals

Assurances that advocacy plan is carried out; advocacy and linkages services in coordination with the case manager include but are not limited to:

• Conducts intakes, screenings, interviews, and assessments of survivor needs.
• Ensure our services are well publicized in the community.
• Temporary Restraining Orders
• Identify barriers to services and advocates for higher quality of services with external service organizations.
• Manages crisis situations, adheres to safety and department protocols and provides conflict resolution when needed.
• Provides translation and interpretation services for survivors when needed.
• Client accompaniment to court hearing, housing interviews, etc.
• Client rights education
• Law enforcement report filings
• CalWORKs assistance
• Educational and employment advocacies
• Emergency & transitional housing linkages
• Drug/ substance abuse/ rehabilitation program linkages
• Legal aid and immigration advocacy linkage
• Healthcare linkages
• Food and financial resources linkages (i.e., CalWORKs, WIC, etc.)
• File child abuse referrals when necessary
• Transports clients as needed.
• Provides childcare during support group classes, counseling sessions or as needed.
• Develop ongoing referral relationships with health, legal, and social service system.
• Assures rights of clients are adhered to within shelter policies and guidelines.
• Keeps supervisor informed of status of clients, urgent program needs, client noncompliance, emergency, and program process.
• Maintains a written record of operations in a timely manner through client log, client files and client services activities sheets.
• Attends staff meets and inservice trainings as needed; and
• Performs additional duties as requested by supervisor.
• Must have great understanding of confidentially and ethical conduct, have good writing skills and be a selfstarter as well as a team player.

Required Qualifications:

• AA or enrolled in accredited college or equivalent experience.
• Minimum 1 year experience having worked with survivors of domestic violence and/or child abuse.
• State of California fortyhour Domestic Violence Training Certificate preferred.
• Bilingual English/Spanish preferred.
• Cultural sensitivity.
• First Aid/CPR Training Certificate.
• Knowledge of family structure and community dynamics of population served.
• Ability to accept diverse personal and cultural behaviors.
• Must exhibit flexibility, mature judgment, confidence, and competence.
• Good writing and communication skills.
• Must have current California Driver's License, good driving record and current automobile insurance.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to