Youth Advocate (LGBTQIA+)

The Youth Acceptance Collaborative (YAC) is a partnership between Our Space (SBS's community center for LGBTQ+ youth), Family Builders and Alameda County Social Services. The YAC provides a continuum of services towards the prevention of some LGBTQ+ youth from entering the child welfare system, and the transition of others from placement to family-based permanency. The role of the Youth Advocate (LGBTQIA+) is to provide support services to LGBTQ+ youth ages age 13 up to 18 who are in foster care or at-risk of entering foster care. The Youth Advocate may, at times, serve youth younger than 14, at the discretion of their supervisor. Support services will be focused on placement stabilization and may include: weekly, individual support meetings with youth; facilitation of a weekly support group for LGBTQ+ foster youth; collaboration and case consultation with Social Services staff and community partners; assessment and support of clients' permanency needs; and referral and linkage services. The Youth Advocate will work closely with staff at the Alameda County Assessment Center to provide crisis intervention and stabilization services; build rapport and trust with LGBTQ+ youth; and decrease barriers to LGBTQ+ youth receiving services, education and community resources. This position requires a high level of independent decision making as 60 - 75% of the Youth Advocate's time will be spent in the field providing community-based support services to youth referred to the YAC. When not in the field, the Youth Advocate will maintain a physical presence in the milieu at Our Space to create a continuity of services for LGBTQ+ youth who have had contact with the Assessment Center, and at the Assessment Center so as to develop rapport and provide support to Social Services placement workers as needed. Critical to this position is the ability to create and maintain positive working relationships with community partners, towards successfully supporting clients and engaging providers in submitting referrals. The Youth Advocate will carry a caseload of 5 - 8 youth. A portion of this role works to raise awareness around the programming and services offered through Our Space and the Youth Acceptance Collaborative. The Youth Advocate is responsible for overseeing communications platforms, including social media, the monthly newsletter, and print materials. Additionally, the Youth Advocate will network and collaborate with community partners, including schools and nonprofit organizations serving LGBTQ+ youth, to identify and pursue opportunities for collaboration. Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Assessing the placement and support needs of LGBTQ+ youth who are referred to the YAC or residing at the Assessment Center.
• Provide placement stabilization services to referred youth.
• Utilize a positive youth development framework to build trusting relationships with LGBTQ+ youth and engage them in support services.
• Provide support and consultation to Social Service staff as they grow their skills in LGBTQ+ competent and affirming service provision.
• Build mutually respectful and supportive relationships with Social Service staff and community providers towards improving the care of LGBTQ+ foster youth.
• Complete YAC intake for active YAC clients on caseload.
• Partner with youth in involving family and other informal and formal key players in planning services and supports for each youth. Partner with youth in maintaining relationships with permanent support people and identifying opportunities to strengthen these relationships
• Partner with youth in identifying community resources.
• Partner with youth in identifying obstacles to living independently, obtaining employment, obtaining post-secondary education, and in developing supportive social and recreational activities. Partner with youth to develop strategies to overcome these barriers
• Partner with youth to develop and monitor working goals and objectives with measurable outcomes.
• Collaborate with Family Builders around referrals and shared clients.
• Responsible for documentation of meetings in Electronic Health Record.
• May be responsible for writing clinical Progress Notes in accordance with Medi-Cal guidelines and within expected agency timeframes.
• Transport youth in vehicle on a regular basis.
• Provide LGBTQ+ youth with appropriate service referrals and linkages.
• Attend Team Decision Making meetings as requested to provide support to LGBTQ+ youth.
• Work collaboratively with Child Welfare Workers (and in particular, Placement Workers) to identify placement needs and advocate for appropriate and supportive placements
• Accompany clinicians and Child Welfare Workers on home visits as requested.
• Participate in Our Space special projects, events, and/or community center programming and staffing as needed (at discretion of supervisor).
• Participate in the tracking of outcomes and use of outcome measurement tools, including Child and Adolescent Needs a

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