United States: Child Protection Technical Advisor

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933, the IRC is at work today in over 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities. The IRC’s Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration (RAI) department creates opportunities for refugees and other vulnerable migrants to gain stability and control of their future. RAI serves more than 50,000 individuals each year, through a diverse portfolio of programs aimed at five core outcomes: Health, Safety, Economic Wellbeing, Education and Power. IRC’s safety and wellness programs help heal and rebuild communities that have been deeply affected by grief, loss, and displacement by providing mental health and psychosocial support, mental health and interpersonal violence screening, and referral as needed to more specialized supports.

SCOPE OF WORK: 

The Technical Advisor (TA), Child Protection provides technical expertise for IRC’s Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration (RAI) safety and wellness programs as it relates to safety, permanency and protection for children and youth. The TA is responsible for supporting child protection needs in the network, particularly the Preferred Communities program. The TA will also liaise with internal and external stakeholders and funders regarding emerging issues related to Unaccompanied Afghan Minors (UAMs) and other minors and developing programming to enhance the safety and wellness of this population. The TA will advance the goal of ensuring that child protection issues are centered in RAI programming and will collaborate with the Anti-Trafficking Technical Advisor on emerging issues related to Unaccompanied Children who have experienced trafficking. As part of that goal, the TA will provide consultation to IRC staff when issues of child protection arise. The TA will ensure that RAI UC programs are trauma-informed, strengths-based, client- and survivor-centered, and that staff implementing those programs have the technical capacity to deliver quality services. As a member of RAI’s Program Excellence unit and the Safety, Education and Wellness Technical Unit, the TA will supervise and support the Child Protection Coordinators providing direct services to minors nationwide.

This position is part of an anticipated 36-month contract.

Program Quality and Management: 

• Supervise the Remote Child Protection Coordinators for unaccompanied children populations including Central American, Ukrainian and Afghan minors.
• Provide technical support to IRC Preferred Communities case management staff and affiliating providers on case management practice, including crisis intervention, documentation, referral network development among others.
• Serve as a resource for staff and teams in distress, such as carrying out employee communications, liaising with child welfare and law enforcement agencies, advising leaders on response, and connecting staff with appropriate internal and external mental health and crisis intervention resources.
• Assist Child Protection Coordinators and Intensive Case Managers as needed in appropriate internal and external crisis intervention resources.
• Report regularly to RAI Leadership and the Preferred Communities lead about program progress.
• Regularly meet with case managers and client-facing staff to provide opportunity to review competence and confidence.
• Support Child Protection Coordinators in ensuring direct assistance is accessible to minors.

Training and Technical Assistance: 

• Build the capacity of the RAI network to mainstream child protection considerations into ongoing services.
• Consult with RAI program staff related to child protection issues.
• Be available for case consultations for minors in various IRC programming except for within the Home study and Post Release Services Program.
• Serve as the focal point at HQ on case consultations for Preferred Communities staff and program offices for situations involving child protection concerns.
• Develop IRC Child Protection training plan and oversee the various components of e-learning development, participant tracking and content revisions.
• Collaborate with Child Protection Coordinators and other Intensive Case Management staff to ensure client-facing materials are created and distributed.
• Develop written material including the IRC’s Child Protection Protocol manual and support its implementation.
• Facilitate the Child Protection Community of Practice.

Thought Leadership and Program Development: 

• Identify opportunities to increase child protection services with RAI.
• Socialize best practices in child protection throughout RAI.
• Develop concept notes to advance opportunities.
• Coordinate, working closely with resource acquisition and related teams, the development of supplemental funding proposals to enhance program quality and sustainability and secure partnerships related to increasing RAIs ability to provide child protection services.
• Ensure that the IRC’s models align with established professional treatment standards and practices.
• Liaise with IRC’s policy and advocacy teams to advance issues within child protection programming.
• Liaise with other RAI programming to mainstream child protection throughout RAI.

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS: 

• Position reports to: Senior Technical Advisor of Protection and Anti-trafficking

Collaboration:

• Internal: RAI's Preferred Communities team and Home Studies/Post Release Services Program
• External: Working groups for UAMs, Child Protection Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement, and Department of State.

REQUIREMENTS: 

• Master’s degree in social work, education, psychology, sociology, or other behavioral or social services field, or equivalent.
• Minimum of five years of relevant experience, such as child welfare, family preservation, kinship care or similar
• Strong organizational skills with ability to juggle multiple tasks, set priorities, effectively manage time and meet deadlines, and proven ability to work under pressure.
• Excellent communication, teambuilding, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to think strategically and creatively.
• Proven ability to write and edit ability to write reports and business correspondence.
• Strong track record of external and public relations with partners and donors
• Prior experience working with unaccompanied children, refugee or immigrant populations preferred.
• Demonstrated success working and communicating effectively in a multi-cultural environment.

WORKING ENVIRONMENT: 

• Remote work environment and some availability in the evenings as needed. Up to 10 % travel required.

Compensation: Posted pay ranges apply to US-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusivity: IRC is committed to building a diverse organization and a climate of inclusivity. We strongly encourage applications from candidates who can demonstrate that they can contribute to this goal.

Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances.

Professional Standards: The IRC and IRC staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Global Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti-Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Equal Opportunity Employer: We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

US Benefits: We offer a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. In the US, these include: 10 sick days, 10 US holidays, 20-25 paid time off days (depending on role and tenure), medical insurance starting at $145 per month, dental starting at $7 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare, childcare, and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with up to 4.5% immediately vested matching contribution, plus a 3-7% base IRC contribution (3 year vesting), disability & life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support counseling and care in times of crisis and mental health struggles.

How to Apply: 

Please apply on IRCs website: https://rescue.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home/requisition/45115?c=rescue