Director Department

PURPOSE STATEMENT:

The Jewish Board's Youth & Family Services (YFS) Division is deeply committed to the safety and protection of every child, youth, and family served across our continuum of community-based and residential programs. The Director of Safe Futures provides visionary leadership and strategic direction for the YFS Division's efforts to eliminate child harm as a never event. This role champions a culture of safety, accountability, and proactive protection - ensuring that every child who interacts with our programs, staff, and partners is safeguarded from harm in all its forms. The Director of Safe Futures translates bold commitment into measurable action, driving systemic change across the youth and families division and agency at large.


POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Director of Safe Futures is a leader within the YFS Division responsible for developing, implementing, and continuously improving the Division's child harm prevention strategy. The Director reports to the Executive Program Director of Youth & Family Services Division and works in close collaboration with the YFS leadership team, Legal, Human Resources, and Program Leadership.

The Director leads the design and execution of the Strong Boundaries, Safe Futures framework - establishing clear boundaries, expectations, and accountability standards across all YFS programs, partnerships, and sites. This role serves as the YFS Division's primary thought leader on child safety, translating policy and evidence-based practice into durable organizational systems. Development of metrics, data collection, and analysis as it pertains to monitoring the fidelity and quality of child safety practices is essential within this role. The director will partner with the division's project manager of operations to assist with the implementation and execution of assignments that fall within the scope of the work related to Safe Futures.


KEY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Strategic Leadership:

• Develop, lead, and continuously improve the YFS Division's child harm prevention strategy, with the explicit goal of making child harm a never event.
• Establish and champion the Strong Boundaries, Safe Futures framework that sets clear boundaries, expectations, and accountability standards across all programs and partnerships.
• Serve as the YFS Division's primary thought leader on child safety, staying current with best practices, legislation, and emerging risks.
• Report regularly to senior leadership and the board on safe futures metrics, risks, and progress.
• Participates in agency and external committees, coalitions, and initiatives related to child safety and harm prevention.

Program Development & Oversight:

• Design and implement policies, protocols, and adherence to training that prevent child harm and strengthen strong boundaries at every level of the YFS Division.
• Oversee the development of safe environment standards and ensure consistent application across all YFS sites, programs, and partner organizations.
• Support reporting, response, and remediation systems that are trauma-informed, timely, and transparent. This includes, but not limited to, Justice Center allegations, HR code of conduct allegations, Corporate compliance allegations and positive hits on weekly boundary screenings.
• Ensures compliance with internal and external child safety policies, procedures, and regulations across the YFS Division.
• Visits program sites to provide support, build relationships, and ensure safe environment standards are consistently upheld.

Culture & Accountability:

• Foster a culture where child safety is a shared value, not a compliance checkbox - empowering youth, families, staff, volunteers, and partners to speak up and act.
• Develop and maintain a child safety scorecard and reporting dashboard to track progress toward never-event goals.
• Lead after-action reviews following any child safety incident, ensuring systemic learning and continuous improvement.
• Participates in staff and treatment team meetings at determined pace with program leadership to sustain the culture shift related to this initiative.

New Initiatives & Special Projects:

• Leads and manages child safety special projects and cross-divisional initiatives from conception through implementation, ensuring alignment with YFS and agency-wide strategic priorities.
• Identifies opportunities for program development, new funding streams, and innovative child safety service models.
• Tracks and reports on the progress, outcomes, and impact of new projects related to this initiative with both internal and external stakeholders.

Partnerships & Advocacy:

• Build and sustain relationships with child protection agencies, law enforcement, legal counsel, and community organizations.
• Represent the YFS Division in external coalitions, forums, and advocacy efforts focused on child safety and harm prevention.
• Engage families and young people as partners in designing and evaluating safety initiatives.
• Ensures relationships with community partners, family voice, and youth-guided perspectives are established and maintained throughout all child safety programming.

Management:

• Recruit, mentor, and develop a high-performing child safety team within the YFS Division.
• Hires and provides clinical and administrative supervision to assigned staff.
• Develops and adheres to program budgets and maintains fiscal viability of child safety programming.
• Manages risk regarding client safety by adhering to all risk management protocols.
• Performs all other duties as assigned.

CORE COMPETENCIES for the position include:

• Child Safety and Safeguarding Commitment - Demonstrates an unwavering commitment to advancing child safety and well-being as a core organizational priority.
• Strategic and Systems Thinking - Analyzes complex issues, identifies root causes, and develops sustainable, scalable solutions to improve organizational outcomes.
• Integrity and Accountability - Exercises sound judgment, proactively addresses risks, and promotes a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Trauma-Informed Leadership - Applies trauma-informed principles to leadership, decision-making, and service delivery practices.
• Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement - Builds and maintains effective partnerships across departments, community organizations, and external stakeholders.
• Data-Driven Decision Making - Utilizes data, metrics, and performance indicators to inform strategy, evaluate outcomes, and communicate impact.
• Youth and Family-Centered Practice - Demonstrates empathy for youth and families and actively incorporates their perspectives into program and policy development.
• Cultural Competence and Equity - Promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging through culturally responsive and anti-oppressive practices.
• Change Management and Organizational Leadership - Successfully leads complex, cross-functional initiatives and drives organizational change in collaboration with multiple stakeholders.

EDUCATIONAL/TRAINING REQUIRED:

• Bachelor's degree in Social Work, Public Health, Education, Psychology, or a closely related field required.
• Professional licensure (e.g., LMSW, LCSW, LMFT, or LCAT) or Master's degree in a behavioral health or related field preferred.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED/LANGUAGE PREFERENCE:

• Minimum of five (5) years of progressive experience in child protection, safeguarding, or a closely related field.
• Minimum of five (5) years of leadership experience in a clinical, operational, or program management role, including supervisory responsibilities at the manager, director, or equivalent level.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and implementing department- or division-wide policies, procedures, and programs.
• Extensive knowledge of child protection principles, mandatory reporting requirements, trauma-informed practices, and applicable child welfare laws and regulations.

COMPUTER SKILLS REQUIRED:

• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office suite.
• Ability to learn and use electronic health records and other software systems necessary to support job functions.
• Working knowledge of AI tools and applications, with the ability to effectively integrate AI into daily work and a demonstrated commitment to developing AI fluency.
• Proficiency in using data dashboards and reporting tools to track, analyze, and communicate child safety metrics and trends.

VISUAL AND MANUAL DEXIERITY:

• Limited applications of manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination.

WORK ENVIRONMENT/PHYSICAL EFFORT

• Travel to YFS program sites across New York City boroughs as needed.
• Position is currently hybrid but can become 100% in person based on program need.

If you join us, you'll have these great benefits:

• Generous paid time off in addition to paid agency holidays and 15 sick days
• Affordable and high-quality medical/dental/vision plans
• Tuition assistance and educational loan forgiveness
• Free continuing education opportunities
• 403(b) retirement benefits and a pension
• Flexible spending accounts for health and transportation
• 27/7 Accessible Employee Assistance Program
• Life and disability insurance

Who we are:

The Jewish Board delivers innovative, high-quality, and compassionate mental health and social services to over 45,000 New Yorkers each year. We are unique in serving everyone from infants and their families to children, teens, and adults. We are proud to employ and serve people of all religions, races, cultural backgrounds, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. We are committed to building diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams to help support our mission, and we strongly encourage candidates from historically marginalized backgrounds to apply to work with us.

More on Equal Opportunity:

We are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.