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Salary range: $59,116.00 – $91,768.00

The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and well-being of New York City’s children and families by providing child welfare, juvenile justice, and early care services. In child welfare, ACS contracts with private nonprofit organizations to support and stabilize families at risk of a crisis through preventive services and provides foster care services for children not able to safely remain at home. Each year, the agency’s Division of Child Protection responds to more than 50,000 reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. In juvenile justice, ACS manages and funds services including detention and placement, intensive community-based alternatives for youth, and support services for families. ACS is also a key part of NYCs early childhood and education continuum, providing childcare assistance to thousands of child welfare involved and low-income children so they can access safe, affordable, quality care.

The Policy Unit is responsible for drafting and revising all 500 of the agency’s policies and operations orders that guide the safe and secure operations, and the unit collaborates with DYFJ to ensure a streamlined process. The Policy unit is also responsible for agency memos, medical consents, tool kits, manuals, documents, and desk guides along with agency policies mentioned above. The policies and operations orders are required by the Division’s state, federal and city oversight authorities including but not limited to the federal PREA Act, NYS OCFS, and NYC DOI. The Policy Unit disseminates all state directives to the responsible divisions of ACS. The Policy Unit works with every Division leadership to set priorities and establishes workgroups of content-area experts to draft and/or revise policies and ops orders. The Policy Unit reviews all applicable legislation, best practices, etc. The Unit collaborates with the Office of General Counsel, responsible for reviewing all 500 agency policies and operations orders, as well as the DYFJ and Commissioner’s office to ensure that policies and ops orders reflect the Agency’s mission and are put into effect in a timely manner.

The Policy Writer is responsible for the development of and operations orders of 13 out of 14 ACS divisions including but not limited to the following: reviewing applicable legislation, identifying best practices, drafting initial policy for review, identifying content area experts and creating workgroup, completing draft with workgroup, submitting to OGC (& other divisions as needed i.e. ELU, OEEO, OLR) resolving all comments, submitting to Associate Commissioners and Deputy Commissioner, assigning policy/ops order numbers, submitting to OCFS, public comment and CIR office for final approval process. Some of the administrative work will include maintaining the tracking spreadsheets and archives for both the detention and close to home policies, ensuring that the development of policies and op orders follow the identified process, responding to internal and external inquiries and requests for policies. Provide updates to the Executive Director and Assistant Commissioner as needed.

The Policy Writer’s additional duties and responsibilities will include the following:

• Develop policies and procedures that are necessary to implement critical initiatives, such as various agency reform initiatives within the Division of Child Protection.
• Respond to new regulations, State-issued directives, and other external mandates that require ACS to establish or modify its policies and procedures.
• Respond to requests from ACS Divisions and Offices to draft new policies and procedures or to revise existing policies and procedures.
• Draft and edit policies, procedures, memoranda, and other written materials related to child welfare and juvenile justice, including but not limited to Quality Assurance Standards and Casework Practice Field Guides.
• Schedule individual meetings, as well as policy workgroup meetings, with the relevant ACS Divisions and Offices to discuss policies and procedures that need to be created or revised.
• Conduct follow-up, via telephone, email and/or additional meetings to assist in moving policies and procedures forward through the development process.
• Support and participate in projects that relate to changes in policy and procedures as well as training sessions on newly developed procedures.
• Conduct research and reviewing applicable laws and regulations, with the assistance of Counsel, to inform agency policies;

Minimum Qualifications

Preferred Skills

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Residency Requirement

Additional Information