Senior Victim Advocate (Social Services Specialist III)

This position includes a signing bonus of $2,500 (full-time) for new county hires.

This position works as part of the Division of Domestic and Sexual Violence Services (DSVS) provide advocacy services. This is an exciting time to join the DSVS as we recently completed our strategic plan and refreshed our mission, vision, and values to align with the DFS Mission, Vision, and Values and the One Fairfax Policy.

We invite you to learn more about DFS and its Mission, Vision, and Values, by clicking here.
To learn more about One Fairfax, we highly encourage you to watch the Becoming One Fairfax-An Introduction to Key Concepts video by clicking here and visit the One Fairfax webpage here.

This position is a member of Advocacy Services. Under general supervision of the Advocacy Services Supervisor, provides community-based advocacy services.

Specific duties and responsibilities include the following:

• Provides advocacy services to include crisis intervention, emotional support and options counseling, safety planning, education of the civil and criminal justice system, court advocacy and court accompaniment
• Provides onsite advocacy services at the Fairfax Court Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (JDRDC) and General District Court including intake of client requests, court accompaniment, and coordination with court staff.
• Receives and triages client requests from the main line and other referral sources; resolves by providing advocacy services, information, safety planning, or referrals.
• Collects data and reports on goals and measures around advocacy team services
• Facilitates access to court and legal information for victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, and stalking
• Performs short-term case management which entails conducting assessment to include risk assessment, to identify needs of clients and develop a safety and service plan; supporting clients in accessing resources and services; monitoring service plan and documenting all case management activities in the client's record
• Represents DSVS in the coordinated community response to domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and human trafficking by participating in various committees, workgroups and outreach efforts both locally and regionally
• Serves as liaison and subject matter expert on domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking to include staffing cases
• Provides training and technical assistance for the county and community agencies
• Develops and provides needed court training to DSVS staff and volunteers as it pertains to victims of domestic and sexual violence and stalking
• Assists Lethality Assessment Protocol (LAP) Line follow-up tasks such as reviewing messages and assigning cases to staff
• Works with Advocacy Services Supervisor to assess staff and volunteers training needs and provide or arrange training necessary to develop skills and knowledge of victim advocates and volunteers
• Provides supervisory assistance and leadership in the absence of the Advocacy Services Supervisor, assists with setting up the weekly schedule, and ensures adequate coverage.
• Provides rotational coverage of the program's 24-hour crisis lines and responds to requests for hospital accompaniment
• Performs other duties as assigned

• Knowledge of principles of interpersonal violence accountability and community resources available to those who perpetrate violence
• Knowledge of the relationship between trauma impact and domestic violence problems
• Knowledge about best practices and domestic violence intervention particularly in safety planning
• Ability to assist other professionals with connecting clients to advocacy services
• Have excellent written, oral, and interpersonal skills
• Ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships with subordinates, co-workers, county officials, public and private sector organizations, community groups and the general public
• Ability to develop and maintain working relationships with partner agencies includes court services, legal services, law enforcement, shelter, and other service providers in Fairfax County.
• Ability to use automated systems to include any technological tools the County may provide to successfully carry out duties
• Ability to interview, assess needs, counsel, and refer clients to other resources as needed
• Ability to assess safety, risk, and protective capacity
• Possess critical thinking skills, ability to apply critical thinking, knowledge, and research
• Ability to meet deadlines and keep up with documentation

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
Minimum of a bachelor's degree in a human services field OR minimum of a bachelor's degree in any field with a minimum of two years of appropriate and related experience in a Human Services area (Section 22VAC40-670-20 of the Administrative Code of Virginia).

In order to be evaluated for positions in the Family Services Occupational Group, individuals who do not meet the degree requirement at the time of application for employment must be in their last semester of a degree program that will meet the requirements listed above.

Contingent upon the area of assignment, some positions within this class may require specific certification(s) or experience prior to employment and/or the ability to acquire necessary certification(s) within a specified time period following employment. The certifications and preferred qualifications are identified in the position description and employment advertisement.

CERTIFICATES AND LICENSES REQUIRED:
Valid driver's license

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
The appointee to this position will be required to complete a criminal background check, child protective services check, and driving record check to the satisfaction of the employer.

BONUS ELIGIBILITY:
Positions within this classification that are general merit may be eligible for a one-time hiring incentive bonus for new county employees only. This bonus program requires a signed payback agreement between the department and employee.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master's degree in social work or a related human services field
• Three (3) years of increasingly responsible, directly-related professional experience in the social services or human services field.
• At least three (3) years of full-time equivalent experience working with victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking and/or human trafficking.
• At least three (3) years of experience working in the victim advocacy field.
• At least three (3) years working with court services and court systems.
• Experience working with a diverse multicultural population.

Fairfax County is home to a highly diverse population, with a significant number of residents speaking languages other than English at home (including Spanish, Asian/Pacific Islander, Indo-European, and many others.) We encourage candidates who are bilingual in English and another language to apply for this opportunity.