Juvenile Custody Services Specialist

Overview

Do you have a passion for working with youth? Do you want to help teens involved in the juvenile justice system turn their lives around to create a better future?

As a Juvenile Custody Services Specialist (JCSS) with Multnomah County's Department of Community Justice, you'll help foster pro-social behavior with youth residing in our juvenile detention facility and our Behavioral Rehabilitation Services (BRS) residential program.

Working in a culturally diverse juvenile detention facility, you will be responsible for the guidance, security and general care of youth who present a variety of behavioral, cognitive, emotional and intellectual issues. Using an interactive model of supervision, we place particular emphasis on skill development, engaging youth in pro-social development, cognitive restructuring programming, leisure time activities, personal hygiene, and work activities.

You will be responsible for:

• Supervising and documenting youth activities and behavior

• Providing guidance and group programming, including planning recreational programs and facilitating cognitive skill groups

• Maintaining safety, security and order in the living units

• Maintaining routine records; preparing oral and written reports using automated systems

Juvenile Custody Services Specialists work in a secure detention environment and in a Behavioral Rehabilitation Services (BRS) residential program. The detention facility has numerous two-level pods that house youth in detention. All Juvenile Custody Services Specialists must have the ability to use verbal skills to de-escalate volatile situations. You must also be able and willing to respond to crisis situations, including physically intervening with youth who may be violently acting out; this may involve the use of restraints. All Juvenile Custody Services Specialists must have the ability to regularly go up and down stairs.

Some positions are assigned to work in a secure residential Behavioral Rehabilitation Services treatment program for youth of all genders who require a staff secured, out of home placement for assessment/evaluation, stabilization and transition planning.

The facility operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Applicants must be willing to work a variety of shifts, including overnight, swing, weekends and holidays. Juvenile Custody Services Specialists work on a continuous duty shift, meaning that you may not be relieved of duty during your work day.

To Qualify

We will consider any combination of relevant work experience, volunteering, education, and transferable skills as qualifying unless an item or section is labeled required. Please be clear and specific about how your background is relevant.  

Minimum Qualifications/Transferable Skills*:

• Associate's degree or equivalent with major coursework in child psychology, sociology, or a related field; a Bachelor's degree may substitute for 1 year of the required experience.

• Two (2) years of responsible experience working with at-risk youth (ages 12-18) in one of the following environments:

  • Detention or youth correctional facility

  • Youth residential setting

  • Setting that provides programming for at-risk youth

• Physical ability to respond to crisis situations with the youth, including violent exchanges, and must regularly climb up and down stairs.

• Successful completion of a battery of psychological tests / psychological evaluation.

• Must pass a thorough background investigation and a records check with the State of Oregon's Department of Human Services and be fingerprinted.

• Must pass a felony conviction check for Criminal Justice Information Services clearance.  Any felony convictions will deny clearance.

• Valid driver's license