Special Education/Early Intervention Advocate

The Alliance for Children’s Rights is seeking a dedicated individual to join our Education Program as an Advocate. This is an exempt, full-time paid position.

The Alliance: The Alliance for Children's Rights is a nonprofit organization that provides free holistic legal services and advocacy to youth and families impacted by child welfare and juvenile justice systems in Los Angeles County, and works to enact policy changes statewide. Our lawyers, advocates, and social workers, together with hundreds of pro bono attorneys and community volunteers, work to ensure that those we serve have the tools to overcome barriers to stability and success, and access to the education, healthcare, and financial supports that they need. Since 1992, we have helped over 150,000 children. For more information visit: www.allianceforchildrensrights.org.

 

The Education Team: The Education Program prides itself on providing its team members with the support and resources to be successful. We believe that education (including early intervention) services are essential in creating opportunity for youth facing systemic barriers to success, especially for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx children and children with disabilities – who are disproportionately overrepresented in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. We ground our advocacy in our clients’ goals and our vision for creating education equity from an intersectional perspective.

·      Support children with disabilities and their families, within the education, early intervention, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems to secure the education services our clients have identified as necessary to their success in school and in life, by providing zealous advocacy in IFSP and IEP meetings, informal dispute resolution, and mediations.

·      Assist in the development and delivery of community trainings and tools to support clients, caregivers, and other stakeholders (e.g., CASA, social workers, probation officers) in understanding special education and/or early intervention rights.

·      Coordinate services with social workers, probation officers, children’s attorneys, and juvenile courts to ensure appropriate special education and/or early intervention services.

·      A minimum of three years of legal training and/or experience including but not limited to attending paralegal training or legal advocacy experiences.

·      Professional, educational, or personal experience/interest in: regional center early intervention and/or school district special education advocacy; child welfare, juvenile justice, and/or education systems (for example, former teaching, social work, peer advocate, or CASA experience,); and/or working with diverse populations, towards goals of equity and racial justice.

·      Bilingual Spanish language skills valued, but not required.

Normally, this position would work from our Los Angeles office. However, due to Covid-19, this position will temporarily work remotely from home. This position may be asked to return to work in the office at any time and at the employer's discretion.

Applying: To be considered, please send a cover letter and resume to our Program Director, Jill Rowland, at JRowland@alliancecr.org. Please include in your cover letter any relevant experiences, background, or perspective, professional or otherwise, you have in working with diverse populations and/or towards goals of equity and racial justice. Salary is commensurate with experience. Benefits include health, dental, and life insurance plans, as well as vacation and sick leave policies.