The Juvenile Services Specialist position provides mentoring, advocacy, and case management to juvenile clients and their families. Incumbents play a crucial role in delivering direct services and coordinating community resources as part of a U.S. DOJ grant focused on Youth Violence Prevention in the City of Richmond. Working within the Youth Justice Team, the incumbent will provide individual and/or group supportive services to address short-term and long-term client needs. This position requires collaboration with courts, law enforcement agencies, public schools, and other community organizations.
Responsibilities:
- Determine eligibility of clients for services
- Administer needs assessments and refer clients to appropriate community resources
- Manage an active caseload of youth referred by courts, schools, and community agencies
- Conduct client/family engagement interventions
- Coordinate vendor and community resources to address emergency and ongoing needs of families
- Facilitate programming, including juvenile educational groups and orientation sessions for parents/guardians
- Network with partnering agencies and organizations for community outreach
- Perform additional duties as assigned, such as scheduling and conducting home visits, researching and compiling information, preparing reports, monitoring client needs, and networking for referrals
- Serve as essential personnel during declared emergencies, as required
Supervision Exercised/Received:
- Exercised: This classification typically does not supervise other employees
- Received: This classification typically reports to a program supervisor or manager (other reporting relationships may apply)
Minimum Training and Experience:
- Associate's degree in human services, social services, or a related field
- Bachelor's degree in human services or social services preferred
- Three years of experience in human services or social casework paraprofessional roles
- An equivalent combination of training and experience approved by the department may meet the minimum qualifications
Licensing, Certifications, and Other Special Requirements:
- Valid Driver's License with a satisfactory driving record
- Valid Commonwealth of Virginia Driver's License within 30 days of hire
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Laws and legal procedures
- Human Services programs, including prevention and intervention
- Enforcement of policies and procedures
- Case management reporting techniques
- Computer programs such as Microsoft Office Suite
- Data collection and management
- Conflict resolution
- Active listening
Skills:
- Motivational interviewing
- Strong customer service
- Ability to work with diverse populations, including hard-to-serve and low-income communities
- Excellent interpersonal, oral/written communication, and presentation skills
- Proficiency in using automated technology (e.g., Microsoft Office Suite) and maintaining case records
Abilities:
- Establish and maintain effective working relationships with a variety of individuals
- Schedule and manage workloads to meet deadlines
- Manage time effectively and prioritize tasks
Environmental Hazards:
- Exposure to travel within and outside of the City of Richmond
- Exposure to hazardous physical conditions
- Atmospheric conditions such as fumes, odors, dusts, gases, and poor ventilation
- Inadequate lighting
- Intense noise
- Environmental hazards such as disruptive people and threatening environments
Physical Requirements and Working Environment:
- Ability to perform detailed work on multiple tasks with frequent interruptions and under time constraints
- Regularly required to walk, stand, reach, grasp, talk, see, hear, and use hands, wrists, or fingers in a repetitive motion
- Occasionally required to balance, stoop, crouch, lift, push, pull, and crawl
- Physical strength: Light work, exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and negligible force constantly