Position: Sr.Family Advocate – Special Victims Unit
Classification: Non-Exempt
Work Schedule: Full-time, 40 hours per week, Monday thru Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. May require some evening, night, weekend, and holiday hours.
Bilingual: English and Spanish Required
Worksite: On-site at La Casa de las Madres’ San Francisco Police Department partner site. Adherence to COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccine Policy required.
Agency Overview: La Casa de las Madres (La Casa) is a California not-for-profit corporation established to provide services for battered women and their children. Founded in 1976, La Casa is San Francisco’s oldest domestic violence program, providing comprehensive support services through an Emergency Shelter, 2-24 hour hotlines, non-residential Community Programs, and Community Education and Outreach Programs serving women, teens, and children survivors of domestic violence.
Position Summary: The Sr. Family Advocate, under the supervision of the Community Programs Manager or their designee, will work on-site at the Special Victims Unit of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD-SVU) at 850 Bryant St. The Family Advocate will be available to the SFPD-SVU for service provision to domestic violence (DV) victims and clients in common, through coordination of advocacy and accompaniment services throughout all phases of the criminal justice and civil legal process.
Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:
- Work alongside the SFPD-SVU – providing a timely response in a culturally appropriate manner to women, teens, and their children (as well as boys and men) identified as victims of domestic violence through police reports, walk-ins, or by other law enforcement referrals.
- Obtain a signed informed consent form for every client accepting La Casa’s services.
- Offer a core set of services to every client, including expedited referral to (1) individual counseling and group support, (2) domestic violence shelter facilities, (3) housing advocacy, (4) emergency food and transportation services, (5) legal assistance, and (6) other community-based services including childcare services.
- Conduct detailed safety planning with clients, referral to La Casa’s 24-hour crisis line, and education about healthy relationships, the cycle of violence, and identifying signs in dangerous relationships.
- Conduct assessments of the danger level of domestic violence and provision of assessments to the client.
- Respond as appropriate to Suspicious Injury Reports and SF Supplement to Health Practitioner Suspicious Injury Reports.
- Develop and maintain ongoing knowledge of local, state, and federal domestic violence legislation and regulations.
- Coordinate linkages and work collaboratively with community-based organizations and work groups to ensure accessibility and greater options for clients and their families.
General Responsibilities
- Maintain for safekeeping client information/files in compliance with site-specific grant and agency policies, procedures, and best practices.
- Participate in regularly scheduled mandatory staff meetings and training.
- Execute, maintain and submit program documentation, including evaluations and surveys, per grant and programmatic requirements.
- Complete other duties, service site-specific, as identified and assigned.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Minimum two (2) years of college in the human services field of study plus at least one year of experience in domestic violence-related work or equivalent school/work/life experience.
- Possess strong working knowledge of community resources in the San Francisco area.
- Knowledge of trauma-informed counseling techniques, peer counseling models, crisis intervention, social milieu, and group facilitation.
- Understanding of DV/SA confidentiality and privilege laws.
- Ability to work independently and navigate public transportation to and from multi-site collaborative.
- Bilingual required – English/Spanish required and direct experience working with culturally diverse populations.
- Must be able to fulfill physical requirements of the job (lifting, pulling, pushing, carrying as well as walking up & down stairs multiple times per day, etc.);
- Verifiable completion of state-mandated 40-hour domestic violence counselor training or will complete the next scheduled agency 40-hour domestic violence counselor training;
- Background check and clearance through DOJ Live scan fingerprinting required; La Casa de las Madres will consider applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance; and
- Completion of SVU orientation requirements (privacy and confidentiality training, new employee orientation, required security IDs, placements, etc.).
- Valid California Driver’s License, clean driving record, and insurable under agency policy, and we will consider a non-driver possessing a valid California Identification card.
Required Competencies: To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies in executing the essential functions of this position.
- Problem-solving – identify and resolve problems promptly by gathering and analyzing information skillfully.
- Interpersonal skills – maintain confidentiality, remain open to others’ ideas, and be willing to try new approaches.
- Managing Up – ability to exercise sound judgment and manage communications with supervisor and agency leadership.
- Oral communications – speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations, demonstrates group presentation skills, and ability to conduct meetings.
- Written communications – edits work for spelling and grammar, presents numerical data effectively, and can read and interpret written information.
- Planning/organizing – prioritizes work activities, uses time efficiently, and develops realistic action plans.
- Quality control – demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness and monitors own work to ensure quality.
- Relationship building – demonstrated ability to build and maintain collaborative relationships with partner agencies while firmly committed to La Casa’s philosophy and values.
- Adaptability – adapts to changes in the work environment, manages competing demands, and can deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
- Dependability – consistently at work and on time, follows instructions, responds to management direction, and solicits feedback to improve performance.
- Safety and security – actively promotes and personally observes safety and security procedures and uses equipment and materials properly.
Compensation & Other Information: up to $30.50 per hour-DOE. The Family Advocate position is full-time (40 hours per week), requiring some evening, night, weekend, and holiday hours.
Excellent benefits package includes: Option between two Kaiser health plans, vision, dental, life insurance, long-term disability, employee assistance program, tuition reimbursement, health savings account, employee funded 403(b) retirement plan with employer match option, 9/80 Alternate Work Schedule, 13 paid holidays, two additional paid days off for employee’s birthday and work anniversary, and generous vacation plan (1.0 FTE tiered: 2.4 weeks in the first year- up to 4.8 weeks at four years of service).
To Apply: Send resume with cover letter in PDF format to: hr@lacasa.org, or mail your cover letter and resume to: La Casa de las Madres-FA, 1269 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103.
La Casa de las Madres is an Equal Opportunity Employer: We cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences enable us to be a better team.EEO Policy is available upon request. Formerly battered women are encouraged to apply.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $28.00 - $30.50 per hour
Schedule:
Work Location: In person