Family Defense Practice Early Defense Team Parent Advocate

The Bronx Defenders – an innovative, progressive, holistic legal defense office in the South Bronx – seeks a passionate advocate with a commitment to public defense to join the Early Defense Team in representing parents in the earliest stage of their family regulation cases during the agency’s initial child protective investigation.

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. 

Early Defense Team Family Defense Practice

The Bronx Defenders maintains a robust Legal Support Hotline that allows residents of the Bronx who need representation in family matters to receive immediate assistance. In the Early Defense Practice, our intake team assists people in the Bronx community who are being investigated by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), invited to a child safety conference, directed to take their children to the Child Advocacy Center (CAC), asked to report to Family Court, and/or who need representation at the State Central Registry (SCR) or the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS).

Responsibilities

The Early Defense Team Family Defense Parent Advocate is responsible for working as part of an interdisciplinary legal team to represent community intake clients seeking assistance with family defense matters. The Bronx Defenders Early Defense Team also operates a 24-hour hotline where members of the community who are arrested, wanted by the police or contacted by ACS can call any time of day. The FDP Early Defense Parent Advocate will be responsible for staffing the hotline every couple weeks. Other responsibilities are listed below.

• Collaborate with lawyers, social workers, and other advocates on interdisciplinary, holistic defense teams that prioritize and center the needs of our clients 
• Meet with walk-in community intake clients to assess and assist parents facing a child protective investigation with the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS)
• Assess client needs by speaking with them and conducting home and program visits to help identify home-based needs as well as benefits clients may be eligible for 
• Advocate for parents at Child Safety Conferences, Family Team Conferences, and other ACS and foster agency meetings 
• Assist clients in preparation for ACS/Foster Care agency conferences and/or court appearances
• Attend scheduled court hearings to support clients 
• Attend other meetings with clients at ACS and foster care agencies
• Connect clients with relevant programs for substance use, anger management, parenting, and mental health services, and advocate for them with service providers
• Accompany parents to appointments throughout the Bronx and NYC to ensure seamless access to services 
• Collaborate with clients and their legal teams to set goals and assess progress towards those goals throughout the pendency of their case
• Provide advice and representation to parents seeking assistance in Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) hearings
• Develop partnerships with service providers who can refer clients with pending ACS Investigations
• Document work in case management system and oversee data related to early defense initiatives
• Collaborate with leadership and development staff to create and submit funding reports & new applications for funding
• Conduct Know Your Rights trainings about the Family Regulation System with other members of the Early Defense Team
• Staff Early Defense Team hotline shifts, answering live calls and responding to voicemail and email messages as soon as possible before 9AM the next business day
• Be available to work flexible hours, including nights and/or weekends and be willing to work as back up during staff shortages, when available

Qualifications

To be eligible, candidates must have:

• Minimum of one year of case management/advocacy experience OR
• Two years of education in a related field

Candidates must demonstrate:

• Commitment to directly defending the rights of parents charged with abuse and neglect
• Understanding of how race and poverty affect parents’ experiences in the legal system
• Experience working in and with racially and socioeconomically marginalized communities
• Ability to effectively and respectfully communicate, collaborate and connect with people with various backgrounds, identities, and experiences
• Ability to work well independently as well as collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team of lawyers and non-lawyers
• Commitment to fierce advocacy, and willingness to strategically challenge authority in defense of the people we represent
• Effective advocacy skills
• Strong analytical skills and capacity to employ non-legal resources in cases
• Ability to multitask, maintain order and meet deadlines in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment 
• Meticulous attention to detail
• Ability to think critically and creatively in fast-paced settings, finding innovative solutions to unique obstacles
• Ability to receive constructive feedback, demonstrate introspection and shift behavior accordingly
• Ability to exercise excellent judgment, discretion, and confidentiality with sensitive matters
• Commitment to raising one’s cultural consciousness and challenging oppressive practices on an interpersonal and institutional level

Preferred but not Required:

• Familiarity with family court, child protection agencies, and/or the foster system
• Familiarity with the Bronx community
• Spanish language fluency

This is a primarily in-person position.

Salary is commensurate with experience. For candidates with 1-10 years of directly relevant experience, the salary range for this position would be approximately $57,625 to 75,284. 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; and 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 non-exempt. By law, non-exempt employees are compensated hourly based on their annual rate and therefore are entitled to over-time, whereas exempt employees are not

The application deadline is June 6, 2025 but applications will be considered on a rolling basis and decisions will be made as soon as appropriate candidates are identified.

The Bronx Defenders is an equal opportunity employer and is cultivating an anti-oppressive 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 work with.