Status: Full-time, Exempt, Specific Term through 6/31/2024 (possible renewal upon receipt of funding)

Location:Newark, NJ

Application Deadline: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

For consideration, please attach your Cover Letter and Resume to the online application in addition to answering the Application Questions.

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES

The Senior Social Worker will be part of AFSC’s Immigrant Rights Program, working closely with staff and clients from the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative, a publicly-funded project that provides representation for immigrants who are detained or are facing removal in New Jersey. The Senior Social Worker will provide intensive case management for clients of the office, including creating comprehensive release plans for detained clients, and working toward securing referrals for services such as medical and mental health treatment, housing, public benefits, and counseling for particularly vulnerable clients and their families. As AFSC staff defend clients from deportation, the Senior Social Worker will provide additional assistance needed to reach stability. This position may require remote work until COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

Essential Functions/Responsibilities: The key responsibilities of the Senior Social Worker include the following:

1. Meet with AFSC legal staff to determine specific client needs and priorities.
2. Collaborate with DDDI supervising legal staff as needed to provide input on social work-related matters.
3. Contribute to the practice of others by modelling good practice, leading group supervisions, setting expectations, arranging staff inductions, onboarding interns and new social workers, provide a mentoring role to Social Work colleagues through assistance with complex cases and to support the professional development of newly qualified social workers, and provide support to managers at busy/ critical times.
4. Provide active case management to AFSC clients including but not limited to asylum seekers and survivors of domestic violence and other crimes. Case management includes initial intake or needs assessment; clinical assessment; assistance in accessing necessary services, including mental health services; comprehensive release plans and/or biopsychosocial assessments for clients in detention for submission to the Immigration Court; and support for released or non-detained clients, including referrals, assisting in scheduling appointments; and providing accompaniment and advocacy around accessing essential and hard-to-obtain services.
5. Conduct safety planning and risk assessment, crisis intervention, with a focus on individual preservation and collaboration with behavioral healthcare and other social service providers.
6. Provide psychoeducation to clients on relevant topics with particular attention to safety.
7. Provide supportive counseling to clients struggling with their mental health.
8. Apply clinical insights in designing a supportive plan for clients in coping with reintegration into the community or impending deportation to county of origin.
9. Oversee and review comprehensive release plans for clients in detention for submission to the Immigration Court that are written by DDDI social work staff.
10. Identify, develop, and maintain resource database to use and share with staff and partners.
11. Locate suitable resources for survivors of torture, domestic violence and complex trauma, including counseling programs.
12. Provide information and resources for partners serving immigrants and/or their families.
13. Perform supervision and evaluation of social work interns as appropriate.
14. Provide support for Task Supervisors of social work interns as needed.
15. Meet with supervisor regularly and submit grant reports on activities and accomplishments related to the responsibilities of the position and the DDDI program.
16. Provide support to the Supervising Social Worker with administrative tasks related to the social work team as needed.
17. Maintain updated information in client database.

Minimum Qualifications

Required Skills and Abilities:

License or appropriate certification from accredited social work program.

1. Master's degree in social work by an institution accredited by CSWE, required.
2. A minimum of 3 years’ experience as a licensed social worker in New Jersey.
3. Familiarity with existing resources and public benefit programs in New Jersey.
4. Ability to recognize signs of trauma and mental illness.
5. Commitment to and experience in working with and providing services in diverse and multicultural settings.
6. Interest and passion for working with diverse immigrant communities.
7. Good interpersonal and communication skills.
8. Bilingual English and Spanish.
9. Some familiarity with immigration law and policy preferred.
10. Ability to work some evenings and weekends.
11. Commitment to Quaker values and testimonies. Understanding of and compatibility with the principles and philosophy of the American Friends Service Committee including non-violence and the belief in the intrinsic worth of every individual.
12. Understanding of and commitment to the principles, concerns, and considerations, of AFSC in regard to issues of race, class, nationality, religion, age, gender and sexual orientation, and disabilities. Demonstrated ability to work and communicate with diverse staff.

COMPENSATION: Salary Range 15 ($56,561 - $76,356, commensurate with experience) – Exempt – Comprehensive medical and hospitalization plan; term life, accident and salary continuation insurances, defined benefit pension plan, plus fringe benefits; participation in unemployment and worker’s compensation and social security.

The American Friends Service Committee is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified persons are encouraged to apply regardless of their religious affiliation, national origin, race, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.

AFSC maintains a deep commitment to a mandate of care for our staff and communities, and thus recommends vaccination and have at least one booster shot for COVID-19; as well as adherence to social distancing, masking, and office occupancy protocols.

AFSC’s Central Office and some of its offices in the U.S. are unionized workplaces. This position is represented.

The American Friends Service Committee is a smoke-free workplace.