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Policy Analyst, Disability Rights


The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights invites applications for the position Policy Analyst, Disability Rights to join the Young Center’s Policy Program in Washington, D.C. (The position will operate remotely until the Young Center returns to in-office work.)


The Young Center is seeking a Policy Analyst with expertise in disability rights to help the organization advocate for reforms in how the government serves unaccompanied and separated immigrant children with disabilities. Too often, immigrant children with disabilities—whether physical, developmental, psychosocial, or sensory—are subjected to treatment that does not comport with best practices for children with disabilities.

This position will be responsible for identifying opportunities to advocate for the best interests of unaccompanied and separated children with disabilities who are subjected to government custody and to adversarial immigration proceedings. The analyst will build connections between the fields of immigration, child welfare, and disability rights to provide support for both individual cases and for larger policy reform. The Policy Analyst will conduct research and help draft arguments to support Child Advocate staff advocating for children, and the policy team’s work on impact litigation, legislative advocacy, and agency advocacy. The analyst will seek out opportunities to bring experts and directly impacted people across fields together to develop best practices for immigrant children with disabilities, provide expert support to case advocacy and litigation, and build a network of colleagues in peer organizations who can support advocacy at the individual, state and federal level.


ABOUT THE YOUNG CENTER

The Young Center advocates for the best interests of unaccompanied immigrant children in the United States through direct service, policy advocacy, and a newly created resource center. The Child Advocate program is the organization’s flagship, direct service program, in which staff are appointed as Child Advocate (best interests guardian ad litem in immigration proceedings) for unaccompanied children pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and the 2013 Violence Against Women Act. The Young Center also conducts policy advocacy at the national level to promote the consideration of best interests in all decisions concerning immigrant children and to create an immigrant system that treats children as children. The Young Center is also launching its Immigrant Child Resource Center to provide technical assistance and support for children caught between the immigration, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems. 


DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Advance policies and practices by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Justice that protect the rights of children with disabilities
  • Develop and draft policy briefings, comments, and memoranda for federal agencies and members of Congress on issues impacting unaccompanied and separated immigrant children with disabilities
  • Meet regularly and collaborate with staff in the Child Advocate Program and Resource Center to identify opportunities to support their advocacy on behalf of children with disabilities and to expedite release to family and community integration and thereby decrease the time these children spend in government custody
  • Seek out opportunities to integrate a disability rights perspective into impact litigation through research, memoranda, and consultation with internal and external stakeholders
  • Organize Hill briefings, webinars, presentations, and other educational materials on the rights and needs of unaccompanied and separated immigrant children with disabilities
  • Secure input from experts and directly impacted people on policies that would advance the rights and needs of unaccompanied and separated immigrant youth with disabilities who face government custody and adversarial immigration proceedings
  • Develop internal guidance on advocacy for children with disabilities
  • Other duties as assigned

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

  • Bachelors degree
  • 3+ years experience advocating for the rights of people with psychosocial, sensory, or developmental disabilities
  • Familiarity with federal disability rights law
  • Excellent written and oral advocacy skills
  • Strong creative thinking and problem-solving
  • Ability to work collaboratively and demonstrated success building networks across fields to support case work and advocacy goals
  • Willingness to travel (when it is safe to do so)
  • Commitment to working specifically on children’s rights

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • J.D. or other graduate degree in a field of study related to legal compliance, federal disability rights law, or work with children with disabilities
  • Lived experience that would lend insight into supporting individuals with disabilities, particularly psychosocial, sensory, or developmental disabilities
  • Spanish language fluency or fluency in another language frequently spoken by children facing removal (e.g., Mandarin, Urdu, Arabic, French, or language indigenous to Central America)
  • Experience in building coalitions and partnerships

The Young Center is an "at-will" and equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate in and affirmatively factors diversity into its hiring practices. Young Center encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, ancestry, marital or parental status, pregnancy, citizenship, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, genetic information, or veterans’ status. Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process; no application will be penalized for requesting an accommodation. Please advise in writing of special needs at the time of application.

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