Guardian ad Litem 12 (02-1751)

This position is open to Alaska Residents only. Please check ourresidency definitionto determine if you qualify.

What You Will Be Doing

As a non-attorney Guardian ad Litem (GAL) you will be advocating for the best interests of children in court in a variety of cases including child protection proceedings delinquency cases and divorce/custody cases. You will be advocating for children from many different communities in Southeast Alaska. You will be tasked with investigating your child clients circumstances and making recommendations to the court about their best interests. You will be appearing in court frequently with the child/ren or on their addition you will be advocating for the child in settings outside of court such as with the childs school or service providers.

Our Organization Mission and Culture

The Office of Public Advocacy Child Advocacy Units mission is to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children who are involved in the juvenile courts taking into account each childs age maturity culture and ethnicity and the public laws and policies regarding family preservation and timely permanency planning.

The Benefits of Joining Our Team

This position is with the child advocacy office in Juneau. Our small and friendly team is located in downtown Juneau right next to the courthouse. Juneau is a beautiful city with numerous outdoor activities and a thriving local art/music scene. Downtown Juneau features many restaurants shops cafes bars galleries and parks. Our team offers flexible work schedules and occasional telework opportunities. With experience this position offers advancement from a GAL1 to a GAL2.

The Working Environment You Can Expect

The Juneau Civil section of OPA is located in the Community Building in downtown Juneau. The child advocacy team includes two non-attorney GALs a supervising attorney GAL and a coordinator for Juneaus volunteer Court-Appointed Special Advocate program. This position requires frequent court appearances both in-person and via teleconference. Requires occasional travel within Alaska.

Who We Are Looking For

We are interested in candidates who possess some or all of the following position specific competencies:

• Investigation: Knowledge of the guidelines regulations and procedures associated with investigation including interviewing evidence detection locating gathering and handling and drawing appropriate factual inferences and conclusions. Provide oral or written reports of findings. Presenting evidence and providing testimony.
• Negotiation: Works with others towards an agreement that may involve exchanging specific resources or resolving differences.
• ProblemSolving: Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives and to make recommendations.

Competency Based Minimum Qualifications Instructions

This job class uses competency based minimum qualifications. Please ensure your application(through work history volunteer experience (duties summary) training education licenses certifications etc.) supports how you have gained the knowledge skills abilities and behaviors (competencies) and that you possess the minimum required competencies for the job class.

Competency Description

The competency description(s) listed below have been designed to promote a common understanding of the essential elements of the job class. They highlight the more general and customary knowledge skills abilities (KSAs) tasks and behaviors used to describe the competency. They typically list expectations as opposed to specific tasks and are to be used only as parameters and guidelines. A competencys description is not intended to exclusively define every KSA task and behavior needed to successfully meet the competency but rather to provide the manager/agency with a broad reference of options as to how an applicant can meet the job expectation.

• Advocacy: Develops and presents the clients patients and/or customers interests in all matters.
• Flexibility:Is open to change and new information; rapidly adapts to new information changing conditions or unexpected obstacles.
• Interpersonal Skills: Shows understanding friendliness courtesy tact empathy concern and politeness to others; develops and maintains effective relationships with others; may include effectively dealing with individuals who are difficult hostile or distressed; relates well to people from varied backgrounds and different situations; is sensitive to cultural diversity race gender disabilities and other individual differences.
• Stress Tolerance:Deals calmly and effectively with high stress situations (for example tight deadlines hostile individuals emergency situations dangerous situations).

• Advocacy: Develops and presents the clients patients and/or customers interests in all matters.
• Analytical Thinking/Problem Solving: Uses a logical systematic and sequential approach to address problems or opportunities or manage a situation by drawing on ones knowledge and experience base and calling on other references and resources as necessary.
• Law: Knowledge of State and federal laws including legal and court procedures regulations guidelines precedents admissibility of evidence case preparation and/or settlements for applicable areas of law practiced or supported.
• Oral and Written Communication:Expresses information (for example ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example technical sensitive controversial); makes clear and convincing oral and written presentations; listens to others attends to nonverbal cues and responds appropriately.
• Technical Credibility:Understands and appropriately applies principles procedures requirements regulations and policies related to specialized expertise.

Please read the below information carefully. This applies to your application submission.

THIS RECRUITMENT IS FOR ALASKA RESIDENTS ONLY

Please be sure to check our residency definition to determine if you qualify.

EDUCATION
If post-secondary education is required to meet the minimum qualifications you must fill in the Education section of the application. If you have not obtained a degree please indicate the number of units completed. Copies of transcripts are required to verify educational credentials if used to meet the minimum qualifications for a position. Transcripts can be attached at the time of application or within 48 hours of the close of this recruitment to the contact person listed below.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FOREIGN EDUCATION
Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the above requirements if applicable. If utilizing this education you must show that the education credentials have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and that such education has been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs; or an accredited U.S. state university reports the other institution as one whose transcript is given full value or full value is given in subject areas applicable to the curricula at the state university. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying.

WORK EXPERIENCE
If using work experience not already documented in your application also provide the employers name your job title dates of employment and whether full-or part-time. Applications will be reviewed to determine if the responses are supported and minimum qualifications are clearly met. If they are not the applicant may not advance to the interview and selection phase of the recruitment.

NOTE: Attaching a resume or curriculum vitae is not an alternative to filling out the application in its entirety. Noting see resume or CV or any similar response on any portion of your application may lead to a determination your application is incomplete and removal from consideration for this job posting.

APPLICATION NOTICE
You can ONLY apply for this position through the Workplace Alaska website or via hardcopy application. If you accessed this recruitment bulletin through a job search portal such as AlaskaJobs or any other database you MUST use a Workplace Alaska online or hardcopy application to successfully apply. Instructions on how to apply with Workplace Alaska may be found on the Workplace Alaska How to Apply webpage found here: STATEMENT

The State of Alaska complies with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Individuals with disabilities who require accommodation auxiliary aides or services or alternative communication formats please call 1- or in Juneau or TTY: Alaska Relay 711 or 1- or correspond with the Division of Personnel & Labor Relations at: P.O. Box 110201 Juneau AK 99811-0201. The State of Alaska is an equal opportunity employer.

NOTICE

If you choose to be contacted by email please ensure your email address is correct on your application and that the spam filter will permit email from the domains. For information on allowing emails from the domains visit the Lost Password Help page located at ALASKA APPLICATION QUESTIONS & ASSISTANCE

Questions regarding application submission or system operation errors should be directed to the Workplace Alaska hotline at 1- (toll free) or if you are located in the Juneau area. Requests for information may also be emailed to
For applicant password assistance please visit: Information

Margaret McWilliams

Deputy Director/Hiring Manager

Phone: