Clinical Family Advocate

Position Summary:

The Clinical Family Advocate plays a vital role in advancing the mission of the Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center by providing compassionate, trauma-informed support to children and families impacted by abuse. As a member of the Clinical and Community Response team, this position serves as both an advocate and clinician, helping families navigate the healing process through comprehensive assessment, direct advocacy, case management, and coordination of services. The Clinical Family Advocate collaborates closely with internal staff and multidisciplinary partners, including law enforcement, child welfare, medical professionals, and mental health providers, to ensure families receive timely and appropriate support. This role requires strong clinical judgment, excellent communication skills, and a deep commitment to protecting children and strengthening families within a culturally responsive and collaborative environment.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Client Engagement and Assessment:
• Engage with and orient children and families to Dee Norton services.
• Coordinate service delivery across intake, forensic interviews, clinical services, medical services, and referrals.
• Conduct comprehensive psychosocial assessments to evaluate child and family needs.
• Identify risk and protective factors and assist with safety planning.
• Assess barriers to services and connect families to appropriate internal and external resources.

• Provision of Clinical and Advocacy Services:

• Evaluate caregiver capacity to serve as a protective resource for their child.
• Develop recommendations to address parenting, mental health, and family safety needs.
• Conduct trauma-informed child mental health assessments.
• Provide evidence-based treatment recommendations.
• Conduct safety-risk assessments and maintain a limited treatment caseload, as needed.
• Offer emotional support, crisis intervention, and advocacy throughout the family’s involvement with Dee Norton.

• Multidisciplinary Case Coordination and Case Management:
• Coordinate services with multidisciplinary team partners, including law enforcement, child welfare, prosecutors, and medical providers.
• Ensure children and families receive comprehensive case management and family-focused support.
• Maintain ongoing communication with internal and external stakeholders.
• Participate in multidisciplinary case review meetings and treatment planning.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in social work, clinical counseling, or a related field.
• Independent licensure or licensure eligibility required.
• Minimum of two years of experience working in child welfare, social services, mental health, or a related field.
• Working knowledge of child abuse dynamics, trauma-informed care, and community resources in the Lowcountry preferred.
• Experience with data collection and electronic documentation.
• Other combinations of education and experience that meet the minimum qualifications may be considered.
• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
• Strong understanding of child maltreatment, trauma, and family systems.
• Excellent clinical assessment, case management, and crisis intervention skills.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary team environment.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Comprehensive knowledge of and adherence to HIPAA and confidentiality requirements.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and electronic case management systems.

Other Responsibilities:

• Participate in a minimum of two public awareness and/or fundraising events annually on behalf of Dee Norton.
• Meet other needs as identified by the Executive Director and/or Leadership Team.
• Abide by federal and state confidentiality and privacy requirements, as well as all Dee Norton policies and procedures.
• Abide by and meet all grant requirements and objectives.

Core Competencies:

Every employee at Dee Norton is responsible for contributing to a positive work environment through teamwork, positive, honest and effective communication, and professional interactions with co-workers, volunteers, clients, and community partners.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate:

• Interpersonal Skills: Approaches others in a tactful manner; ability to work well under pressure and respond quickly to challenges; maintains confidentiality; keeps emotions under control; and remains open to others' ideas.
• Cultural Competency and Humility: Demonstrates a commitment to furthering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and has a proven track record of working well with diverse clients and stakeholders.
• Teamwork: Enjoys working as part of a team with individuals from a variety of disciplines; balances team and individual responsibilities; gives and welcomes feedback; contributes to building a positive team spirit; and supports everyone's efforts to succeed.
• Ethics/Professionalism: Treats others with respect and consideration regardless of their status or position; keeps commitments; inspires the trust of others; works ethically and with integrity; accepts responsibility for own actions; follows through on commitments; and upholds organizational values.
• Quality: Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; applies feedback to improve performance; and monitors own work to ensure quality.
• Initiative: Volunteers readily; undertakes professional development activities; and asks for and offers help when needed.
• Planning/Organizing: Ability to work independently; prioritizes and plans work activities; uses time efficiently; sets goals and objectives; and develops realistic action plans.
• Adaptability: Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; and able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
• Dependability: Is consistently at work and on time; ensures work responsibilities are covered when absent; and arrives at meetings and appointments on time; completes tasks on time or notifies appropriate person with an alternate plan.

Physical Requirements:

In this position an employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 lbs. Must be able to work on a computer and/or telephone for extended periods of time.

Salary and Benefits:

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience.
• Health, dental, vision, and life insurance.
• Paid time off (PTO) and 13 annual paid holidays.
• 403(b) retirement plan with company match.
• Professional development allowance.
• Facility dogs on site.
• A culture that prioritizes the mental and emotional needs of team members, with access to EAP benefits, including up to 8 counseling sessions per family member, financial planning support, and guidance with legal documents.

The Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center promotes a culturally diverse and culturally competent community response network. The Center complies with all laws prohibiting discrimination against employees and applicants based on gender, age, ethnicity, race, faith and experience. Dee Norton abides by all Federal Equal Opportunity guidelines.