Director of Cruelty Intervention Advocacy Program

Department:

Humane Law Enforcement

Division:

Anti-Cruelty

Location:

New York, NY

The ASPCA’s Cruelty Intervention Advocacy program is proactively involved in addressing the problem of animal hoarding in New York City. The Director will oversee that effort, will periodically visit hoarders and will provide requisite referrals and assistance to them in order to assist them and the animals in jeopardy in their care". Previous Experience and ability to work with the animal hoarding population would be a great asset when considering candidacy for this position. For more information on animal hoarding we invite you to visit our website.

Job Summary

The Director of the Cruelty Intervention Advocacy program, under the direct supervision of the Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel, will work with Humane Law Enforcement agents in identifying pets at risk of cruelty, providing referrals and assistance in connecting owners of at risk animals to services aimed at improving the quality of life of the pets and their people. This position is located out of our Long Island City Location.

DUTIES:

• Continue to develop and integrate an intervention program model for HLE, working collaboratively and in support of HLE Agents, which serves the ASPCA’s mission in preventing cruelty while also providing sustainable support to those individuals and families who are at risk of being charged with cruelty without intervention.
• Supervise the administration of the Partners in Caring (PIC) grant program which connects the pets of financially qualified owners with necessary veterinary care (and other services) so that lack of monetary resources does not result in neglect and ultimately the need to resort to criminal charges against the owner.
• Respond to requests for intervention through case analysis and interviews with pet guardians, community, and external agencies.
• Develop and maintain relationships with peers in other NYC governmental, private, and non-profit agencies such as Animal Care and Control, Adult Protective Services, domestic violence organizations, social service agencies, etc that aid in implementation of Intervention program.
• Consult and collaborate with other ASPCA staff to develop strategies and solutions intended to provide intervention that will aid pet and family, which helps build skills for successful pet ownership.
• Participate in frequent visits to pet and family’s home to assess case, form relationship with individual and/or family members involved in case, and create treatment plan for intervention.
• Maintain case records and data for tracking cases, response, recidivism, and other data as required.
• Develop an HLE workload/productivity analysis that documented the value of the Intervention services in freeing time for HLE officers to perform other functions.
• Provide periodic in-house reports on the Intervention activities to HLE/ASPCA staff to the raise awareness of the precursors to animal cruelty.
• Represent the ASPCA at professional conferences and document program successes and challenges.
• Other duties as assigned.

Skills needed:

• Basic knowledge of animal cruelty laws and consequences.
• The willingness to adapt to all ASPCA policies and procedures.
• Basic knowledge of mental health (DSM-IV) diagnosis and prognosis in order to communicate efficiently with social service agencies.
• Knowledge and experience in family systems, family support practices, child development, child management and life skills, with an emphasis on crisis intervention, counseling and prevention, support services and program development.
• Ability to recognize signs of substance abuse, domestic violence, and conduct disorders.
• Ability to remain non-judgmental when confronted with a variety of maladaptive human behaviors.
• Ability to remain non-judgmental when confronted with multicultural differences.
• Ability to organize the information produced by the Intervention services in to a researchable database.
• Interest in supervising students.
• Ability to organize information for presentation to professionals and general public
• Ability to participate in cross training of staff
• A commitment to the animals needs as their primary concern and not compromise that commitment in the face of significant human suffering.
• Ability to foster, sustain and role model a positive team environment, sharing expertise and knowledge with staff, public, and external agencies as appropriate.
• Ability to be flexible in work schedule; weekend and off-hours as required.
• Demonstrated ability to deal with both confidential and sensitive information in a professional and tactful manner
• A high degree of personal initiative, excellent planning and superior organizational skills with attention to detail
• Computer literacy with particular proficiency in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access
• Excellent interpersonal and problem-solving skills

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree required in a related discipline in the human or social services field. MSW Preferred.
• Three years progressive experience in Social/Human Services
• Management experience required. Non-profit organization preferred.
• Fluency in English and Spanish preferred (written and spoken)
• Experience with program development, management, implementation and evaluation required
• Valid NY drivers license; ability to drive when necessary is required

We offer a generous benefit package includes the following for full-time employees and their dependents (if qualified, we offer domestic partner coverage!) Medical, Dental, STD, LTD, 401(k), Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Life Insurance, TransitChek, Tuition Assistance Program, Training Seminars, EAP, 50% animal hospital discount, Vacation, Sick, Personal & Company Holiday time off.