Sojourner Advocate - Restraining Order - Bilingual

Sojourner Family Peace Center•Milwaukee, WI

4d•$22 - $22•Onsite

About The Position

This position will work within the Milwaukee County Restraining Order Office to support and assist victims from diverse backgrounds. The Advocate will work to help clients understand and navigate the civil and criminal court system processes, explore their options and rights when utilizing these systems, develop safety plans and access needed community resources. This position must maintain collaborative relationships with, but not limited to Court Commissioners, Clerical staff, Milwaukee County Sheriff Department and other advocacy staff.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in criminal justice, social work, human services, or relevant field.
Must possess basic knowledge of de-escalation techniques and utilize when necessary.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to read and comprehend instructions, correspondence, and memos.
Ability to prepare letters, database entries, reports, memos, correspondence, and documentation.
Ability to effectively communicate with vendors, clients and other employees of the organization.
Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed written or oral instructions.
Ability to deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations.
Ability to communicate information and ideas by speaking and in written documents so others will understand.
Ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions.
Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
Must have transportation and travel as necessary along with work on-site in community based agencies located throughout the City of Milwaukee.
Must be able to work together with a team as well as work independently.
The ability to communicate and interact with people from culturally diverse backgrounds is required.
Individual should have strong communication and organizational skills, be detail oriented and able to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Must be proficient in Microsoft Office.
Ability to make and maintain community connections to resources.
Requires the ability to operate a variety of standard business machines, such as a computer and the job related software, a keyboard, calculator, telephone, FAX, photocopier, postage machine, shredder, etc.

Nice To Haves

Preferred one-two years of professional experience in advocacy, case management, human resources or related field.
Working knowledge and ability to perform Danger Assessment, LAP and other relevant screening tools preferred or ability to learn.
Experience with the issue of family violence preferred.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with all Sojourner Family Peace Center staff to assist clients and ensure all safety planning, community resource and legal assistance needs are met, among others. Make client referrals to agency and community resources as needed.
Provide legal advocacy to victims of domestic abuse, harassment, juvenile harassment, individuals at risk and child abuse seeking temporary restraining orders and injunctions.
Accompany clients to legal proceedings as requested or necessary; become knowledgeable about basic proceedings in criminal, civil and family law in order to assist and support clients understanding and navigation of these systems.
Provide services including follow-up telephone calls, information and referral to other services, preparation for the final injunction hearing, and accompanying victims to court. Document all contacts.
Complete intakes with clients to help identify individual needs and assist with the development of a personal action plan built on formal/informal supports and community resources outlining goals and expectations. Utilize independent critical skills to identify additional challenges such as AODA and mental health issues that can present at varying levels of severity.
Work with external partners such as the police, district attorney’s office and school systems among others, to maximize the effectiveness of restraining orders and injunctions for clients.
Maintain a full understanding of onsite FPC partners including what services are provided and how to make appropriate referrals. Know community resources and maintain active connections to them.
Assess clients for emergency legal needs and refer them to the staff paralegal and attorneys at Legal Action Wisconsin or other legal resources.
Assist non-English speaking clients by walking them through all the steps of the restraining order filing process. Ensure language accessibility and utilize professional interpretation services when appropriate.
Remain informed about legislation, issues and concerns in court systems.
Collect, maintain and report client data, computerized and hard copy files.
Maintain client files, including outcome information.
Assist with gathering and compiling advocacy statistics and assist with reports to funding sources.
Assist with training volunteers and interns.