Peer Parent Mentor

A mentor parent is a mother or father with previous lived experience in the child welfare system who has successfully reunified with their children and completed their legal case. This includes individuals who have successfully completed a voluntary family maintenance case. A mentor parent cannot have any open legal case, and the court cannot have jurisdiction over their family. If substance use disorder was an issue in their juvenile dependency case, the mentor parent must possess a personal commitment to a clean and sober lifestyle and understand recovery programming.

The mentor will serve the client as part of a team that includes the client’s attorney and a social worker. The attorney will provide direction to the mentor. The mentor will meet with clients in the community and support them in both their criminal justice-related matters and child welfare matters. They will help the client navigate the court system by providing their own experiences as a parent in the system. Mentors will assist clients in accessing services and identifying community supports with the goal of reducing further child welfare involvement. Mentors will also visit clients in the field (e.g., drug treatment facilities, jails, etc.). Mentors are expected to collaborate with the Dependency Legal Services Pre-Prevention team, local child welfare agency, and other preventative service programs, while also maintaining client confidentiality to best meet the client’s needs. Further, mentors will coach clients on how to interface with service providers in the child welfare setting.

Mentors will be required to carefully track their time and report their time for grant eligibility purposes through our JCATS electronic file system. Mentors will be required to meet regularly with the multi-disciplinary legal team for case consultations and program development.