Healthy Parents, Healthy Babies (HPHB) Project Social Worker 

Overview

The Bronx Defenders (BxD) – an innovative, progressive, holistic indigent defense office in the South Bronx – seeks a passionate Master’s level Social Worker with a commitment to public defense to fill a position as a social worker in our Family Defense Practice and work with parents fighting allegations of child abuse and neglect in Bronx County Family Court.

Founded in 1997, The Bronx Defenders is a public defender nonprofit that has developed a nationally recognized model of representation called holistic defense, which provides people with teams of lawyers, social workers, and advocates to defend them zealously in court as well as to address the underlying drivers and enmeshed penalties of legal system involvement.

Since opening our doors, we have grown into an organization of more than 400 staff members defending nearly 20,000 New Yorkers each year in criminal, family, civil, and immigration proceedings who face incarceration, family separation, eviction, and deportation, among other devastating consequences.

Today we are reimagining the role of public defense even further, using community organizing and engagement, legislative advocacy, and impact litigation to partner with the communities we represent to bring about long-lasting systemic change.

We also share our model and lessons learned with current and future public defenders. We run two legal clinics at NYC law schools and train public defenders from one end of the country to the next on how to move to a holistic model of representation.

Family Defense Practice

As residents of the most heavily disinvested borough in the city, families in the Bronx experience the highest rates of family policing and parent-child separation. We serve as the primary institutional provider defending parents and caretakers against the painful and unnecessary removals of their children in the Bronx. Together, our attorneys, social workers, and parent advocates provide the legal defense and support necessary to keep families together and interrupt generational cycles of family court involvement.

Social Work

Effectively fighting for people facing legal charges requires knowing and understanding their goals and needs beyond those related to a single case or legal matter. Our Social Work Practice provides an understanding of people’s lives and the challenges that are connected to their involvement in the various legal systems. The expertise of our Master’s-level social workers and non-legal advocates helps people secure positive case outcomes and address the issues that drove them into the legal system in the first place.

Healthy Parents, Healthy Babies

Healthy Parents, Healthy Babies (HPHB) is a project within the Family Defense Practice that works with pregnant clients and clients with newborns by providing them with holistic defense, advocacy, case management and connection to supportive services. Research shows that early disruptions in bonding with a primary attachment figure can have life-long implications for babies. HPHB works with pregnant clients whose older children have been taken from them and put into the foster system and in turn, these clients are now at risk of having their newborns taken away from them as well. HPHB aims to support pregnant and birthing people so their babies can remain at home, or when that is not possible at birth, to develop plans to preserve the parent-child relationship and minimize the length of stay in the foster system.

Responsibilities

Reporting directly to the HPHB Project Director, the Healthy Parents, Healthy Babies Social Worker will represent HPHB clients and support the successful implementation of the project.

• Represent and center the needs of HPHB clients on interdisciplinary defense teams (lawyers, social workers, advocates, administrative staff, etc.) in Bronx Family Court as well as in meetings within the family policing system.
• Advocate for clients in legal proceedings, including bail application support and ensuring access to reproductive healthcare and jail-based programming for incarcerated individuals.
• Provide supportive counseling, crisis intervention, and goal-setting for clients throughout the pendency of their legal cases.
• Inform clients about the Family Court process and accompany them to appointments (medical, mental health, or community-based) to ensure seamless access to services.
• Maintain consistent contact with clients via home, facility, and court visits and assess needs particular to the perinatal period.
• Assist with the review and interpretation of behavioral, medical, and educational records, collaborating with external experts as needed to prepare clients for assessments.
• Cultivate and maintain relationships with community partners (e.g., doula organizations, perinatal health providers, etc.) to facilitate referrals and workshops.
• Maintain meticulous case records in the Bronx Defenders’ management system to support data collection for funding proposals and reports.
• Collaborate with the HPHB team to facilitate internal and external trainings on best practices for working with pregnant and parenting people.
• Collaborate with HPHB team to co-facilitate weekly support group for HPHB clients.
• Provide coverage for teammates and remain available for flexible hours, including nights or weekends, to address staff shortages or emergent client needs.

Qualifications

To be eligible, candidates must have:

• Master’s Degree of Social Work (M.S.W.) from an accredited School of Social Work

Applicants must demonstrate:

• Commitment to reproductive justice, parenting freedom, and the direct defense of clients fighting for family stability and reunification.
• Understanding how race and poverty affect experiences in the family regulation system, with experience serving racially and socioeconomically marginalized communities.
• Ability to provide fierce, effective written and verbal advocacy and communicate respectfully with people of all backgrounds.
• Ability to work independently and as part of an interdisciplinary team, establishing strong relationships with both internal colleagues and external partners.
• Knowledge of early childhood and attachment theory, strong crisis intervention skills, and the capacity to employ non-legal resources in complex cases.
• Meticulous attention to detail and the ability to think critically in fast-paced, high-stakes environments.
• Ability to receive constructive feedback, exercise excellent judgment, and maintain strict confidentiality regarding sensitive matters.

Preferred but not required:

• Experience working with and on behalf of parents navigating the family regulation system
• Spanish language proficiency, validated objectively
• Seminar in Field Instruction (SIFI) Certification

This is a hybrid position that requires 21 hours/week of in-person work, with the possible requirement of more in-person work for role required needs beyond the 21 hours/week requirement.

Salary is commensurate with experience. For candidates with 110 years of directly relevant experience, the salary range for this position would be approximately $$87,177 – $119,577. Full-time employees are also eligible for a comprehensive benefits package including but not limited to medical, dental and vision coverage; a 403(b) plan with employer contribution; a generous vacation, sick leave, and parental leave policy.

Approximately 70% of The Bronx Defenders' staff, including attorneys and non-attorneys, are represented by UAW Local 2325 - Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (AFL-CIO). This position is within the bargaining unit. 

This position is exempt. By law, non-exempt employees are compensated hourly based on their annual rate and therefore are entitled to overtime, whereas exempt employees are not.

To apply, combine your resume and cover letter into one document, label with first and last name, and submit via Idealist. Your resume will be used to determine your salary based on the number of years of directly relevant professional experience and should include all relevant professional experience. Applications without a written cover letter will not be considered.

The Bronx Defenders is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining a workplace that embraces staff with a diversity of backgrounds, identities, and experiences. We acknowledge the ways in which systemic oppression and injustice can undermine access to professional opportunities and are committed to conducting hiring and promotion processes that are equitable and accessible to those commonly excluded from the workforce. We do not discriminate against and in fact specifically encourage applicants from marginalized communities to apply, including those who identify as Black, Indigenous, people of color, queer, transgender, gender non-conforming, disabled, neurodivergent, and those directly impacted by criminal, civil, family, and immigration legal systems. We value lived as well as professional experience and particularly welcome applications from the Bronx community that we serve.

Full-time employees are also eligible for a comprehensive benefits package including but not limited to medical, dental and vision coverage; a 403(b) plan with employer contribution; a generous vacation, sick leave, and parental leave policy.

Preferred but not required:

• Spanish language proficiency, validated objectively