Staff Attorney, State Central Register

The Center for Family Representation Inc. (CFR) is an award-winning, innovative law and policy organization that serves primarily Black and Brown families and youth in Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Richmond County with an interdisciplinary legal defense model that serves more than 3000 clients every year. CFR was originally founded in 2002 to dramatically change the trajectory of indigent parents being prosecuted by the City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). Our goal is to defend and protect our clients’ rights, reduce the harm of family separation and prevent or minimize the time any child spends in the foster system. CFR provides interdisciplinary family defense with a model that was unique at our founding and that is now being replicated nationally: we assign every client an attorney and a social work staff member, and teams have the support of parent advocates, who are parents with direct personal experience of being investigated and prosecuted by ACS. CFR’s Community Advocacy Project represents parents during a child protective investigation (to avoid court involvement where possible) and assists parents in clearing their names from state maltreatment records.

Job Description

CFR is seeking a Staff Attorney to support our State Central Register appeals practice. Under the supervision and guidance of the Attorney-in-Charge of the SCR appeals practice, the Staff Attorney’s core responsibilities will be to work as part of CFR’s SCR Appeals Unit to provide our clients with high quality advocacy during the SCR record challenge process.  

Responsibilities may include but are not limited to:

• Provide SCR-related information and education to clients;
• Draft letters to the SCR on behalf of clients to request records or initiate a challenge to their indicated reports, submit the requests to OCFS and track the progress of the requests;
• Prepare for and represent clients in SCR fair hearings, which includes 
  • communicating with the hearing officer, opposing counsel, clients, and other related parties about appearances, discovery, and settlement; 
  • obtaining documentary evidence in support of our clients; 
  • interviewing clients and possible witnesses; 
  • preparing clients to testify, and 
  • conducting hearings.  
• Work collaboratively with CFR’s interdisciplinary teams to identify clients who may benefit from challenging their SCR record, obtain relevant information about their family court case and services, and provide information about the impact of family court outcomes on their SCR record;
• Track and record activities, outcomes and deliverables for the project.
• Assist in efforts to conduct community outreach presentations, and develop training materials for parents, mandated reporters, external stakeholders/partners and CFR staff; 

• Participate in CFR’s policy initiatives; 
• Participate in citywide SCR Practice Group and on the community outreach team; 
• Work alongside the Policy team to meet with other funders or elected officials who have supported our work .

Candidates for this position:

•  Must be admitted to the NY bar 
• Have a minimum of at least one (1) year of experience as an attorney
• Have knowledge of Family Law, and preferably knowledge of Article 10 of the Family Court Act and administrative appeals of indicated reports in the State Central Register.  
• Must demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills, organizational skills, and an ability to work as part of a team.

Ideal candidates will also: 

• Have experience working alongside social workers and system impacted families and/or family law.
• Be bilingual in Spanish or other languages

Salary & Benefits

CFR offers a generous compensation package, including a competitive base salary as well as health, 403(b) and vacation benefits. The salary, benefits, and employment policies relevant to this position are governed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement between CFR and the CFR Union, part of ALAA (Association of Legal Aid Attorneys) UAW 2325. CFR strives to create an inclusive and antiracist environment for all of its staff, and candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply; CFR is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Annualized Salary: $86,800 (L1) - $122,800 (L16)

Location

CFR currently has offices in Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island and Queens. This position will work with clients in all of these boroughs. This will involve meeting in person with clients, CFR Family Defense teams and SCR staff in all boroughs.  Hearings are generally conducted virtually, but are sometimes in person at the Bureau of Special Hearings on 125th Street in Manhattan.

How to Apply:

Interested internal candidates should apply via Paycom. Candidates may be asked to work on a writing sample or writing exercise as part of the selection process and should expect there to be more than one interview. 
 

Cover Letter:  In lieu of a cover letter, please submit a 250 response to the following writing prompt:

Why do you want to work in economic justice and what role does economic justice play in keeping families together?