Family Advocate

Family Advocate

Children's Advocacy Center of McKean County (CACMC)**\ **Location:** Bradford, Pennsylvania

About the Children's Advocacy Center

The Children's Advocacy Center of McKean County provides a safe, child-focused environment for children and families when there are concerns of abuse or serious maltreatment. Serving McKean, Elk, Cameron, and Potter counties, the CAC brings together professionals from child protective services, law enforcement, prosecution, medical services, mental health, and victim advocacy to coordinate a compassionate, professional response.

Our goal is to reduce additional trauma to children, support families, and help professionals work together to promote safety, healing, and justice.

Position Overview

We are seeking a compassionate, organized, and motivated individual to join our team as a Family Advocate.

The Family Advocate provides support, information, resources, and guidance to children and families navigating the challenges associated with suspected child abuse. This professional helps families understand the services available to them, connects them with appropriate community resources, and provides ongoing support throughout their involvement with the Children's Advocacy Center.

The Family Advocate serves as an important connection between families and the multidisciplinary team, helping ensure that children and caregivers receive coordinated, consistent, and compassionate services.

This position requires strong interpersonal skills, careful listening, organization, follow-through, and the ability to maintain appropriate professional boundaries while supporting families experiencing difficult circumstances.

**Previous experience in victim advocacy or child protective services is not required.** We are willing to invest in the right candidate through specialized training, supervision, and ongoing professional development.

Key Responsibilities

- Provide compassionate, trauma-informed support to children and non-offending caregivers throughout their involvement with the CAC. - Welcome families to the CAC, explain available services, answer questions, and help them understand what to expect. - Assess family needs and assist with identifying resources related to safety, mental health, medical care, transportation, financial assistance, and other supportive services. - Provide crisis support, information about victim rights, and assistance with safety planning and referrals as appropriate. - Connect families with community resources and help coordinate access to necessary services. - Maintain regular contact with families, providing ongoing support, follow-up, and updates as appropriate throughout the investigative and service process. - Collaborate with law enforcement, child protective services, prosecutors, mental health professionals, medical providers, and other multidisciplinary team partners. - Participate in multidisciplinary team meetings and case coordination while appropriately representing the needs and concerns of children and families. - Assist families in understanding the investigative and court processes, including connecting them with appropriate professionals and court-related support when needed. - Maintain accurate, timely, and confidential documentation of family contacts, referrals, services, and follow-up activities. - Participate in specialized training, supervision, continuing education, and professional development. - Maintain professional boundaries, confidentiality, ethical standards, and a commitment to culturally responsive services.

Qualifications

A bachelor's degree in social work, psychology, human services, criminal justice, education, counseling, or a related field is preferred; however, candidates with other educational backgrounds or relevant experience are encouraged to apply.

Experience working with children, adolescents, families, victim services, child welfare, behavioral health, education, community services, or other human-service settings is beneficial but not required.

Candidates should demonstrate strong verbal and written communication skills, organizational abilities, professionalism, an ability to work collaboratively, and a willingness to learn. Specialized advocacy training and ongoing professional development will be provided.

Qualities We Value

We recognize that the professional skills of family advocacy can be developed through training and experience. We are particularly interested in candidates who demonstrate the underlying qualities necessary to become effective advocates.

These include:

- Empathy:  Ability to understand and respond appropriately to the emotions and experiences of others.

 - Caring and compassion:  Genuine concern for children and families, accompanied by a willingness to provide practical support.

 -Collaboration:  Ability to work effectively with professionals from different backgrounds while keeping the needs of children and families in focus. 

- Emotional awareness:  Ability to recognize and appropriately manage emotions when working with individuals experiencing stress, frustration, or crisis.

 - Conscientiousness:  Able to organization, dependability, attention to detail, and consistent follow-through. 

- **Accountability:  Willingness to take responsibility for assigned tasks, communication, documentation, and professional commitments.

 - Adaptability:  Ability to adjust communication and support based on the unique needs and circumstances of each family. 

- Patience:  Willingness to support families who may be overwhelmed, uncertain, frustrated, or struggling to navigate difficult circumstances. 

- Humility and willingness to learn:  Openness to feedback, professional growth, and recognizing when another professional or service may be better equipped to meet a family's needs. 

- Professional boundaries:  Ability to provide meaningful support while maintaining appropriate limits and encouraging family independence.

Training and Professional Development

The selected candidate will receive specialized victim advocacy training, orientation to the Children's Advocacy Center model, and opportunities to learn alongside experienced multidisciplinary team professionals.

Training will address trauma-informed advocacy, child abuse dynamics, crisis intervention, victim rights, family support, community resources, professional boundaries, and multidisciplinary coordination.

Ongoing supervision, continuing education, and opportunities for professional credentialing will support the development of skills and long-term professional growth.

Why Consider This Position?

This is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children and families during some of their most challenging experiences.

The position offers valuable professional experience in family support, child advocacy, trauma-informed services, crisis response, community resources, and multidisciplinary collaboration. It is particularly well suited for individuals interested in social work, psychology, counseling, human services, victim advocacy, or careers supporting children and families.

Family Advocates play an important role in helping families feel informed, supported, and connected to the services they need.

**Recent college graduates are encouraged to apply.** We are looking for someone who brings compassion, reliability, strong interpersonal skills, a willingness to learn, and a genuine commitment to helping children and families, not necessarily someone who already has years of professional advocacy experience.

Before posting, add the confirmed salary range, benefits, employment type, application instructions, and any background clearance or travel requirements. The degree and experience language is intentionally flexible to encourage qualified recent graduates to apply.