FALL 2024 PARALEGAL INTERN
Children’s Rights is seeking part-time undergraduate interns to join our active litigation program and support our commitment to government accountability and social justice for children.
Children’s Rights is a national advocacy organization that champions the rights of children impacted by government systems using civil rights impact litigation, policy expertise, and public education.
Every day, children and families are harmed by America’s child welfare, juvenile legal, education, immigration, and healthcare systems. These systems disproportionately harm historically oppressed youth, including children of color, LGBTQ/TGNC youth, and youth with mental health needs. Through relentless strategic advocacy and legal action, Children’s Rights holds governments accountable and creates lasting systemic change to disrupt ongoing harms to children and families.
Our work tackles a variety of historic and emerging social justice issues impacting children and their families. Recent campaigns have targeted, for example, the unnecessary and devastating separation of Black children from their families, the unnecessary placement of youth in dangerous congregate care facilities, the lack of mental health services for Medicaid-eligible children, the unjust treatment of unaccompanied immigrant minors, the pervasive practice of administering powerful and dangerous psychotropic drugs to children in foster care without adequate oversight, systemic discrimination against LGBTQ youth in custodial settings, and the grave outcomes for older youth “aging” out of government systems.
Job Summary:
Undergraduate students interested in public interest law, the legal system, child welfare/family policing, social services, and/or reform of government systems would find an internship at Children’s Rights to be an interesting and rewarding experience. Many former paralegals and paralegal interns at Children’s Rights have gone on to law school or other related graduate degree programs.
Duties/Responsibilities:
- Providing administrative support primarily to our legal teams;
- Assisting with case-related tasks, including monitoring press and relevant legislation;
- Reviewing primary and secondary child welfare sources, including case-specific documentation from child welfare agencies;
- Working on an individual research project on a topic of your choice that will culminate in a memo and remote presentation on the topic to the office; and
- Pursuing factual research and data analysis.
Experience and Qualifications:
Children’s Rights seeks interns who are interested in children’s issues and/or social services and committed to government accountability and social justice for children. Candidates in their junior or senior year of college are preferred, though all undergraduate candidates with relevant experience will be considered. Candidates must be available to volunteer 10-15 hours per week. Additionally, applicants must be detail-oriented and well organized, with strong writing and critical thinking skills, as well as excited to contribute to and observe all aspects of an advocacy non-profit.
Start and end dates are flexible, but a minimum commitment of eight (8) weeks is required. Internships at Children’s Rights are unpaid, though we are happy to support interns in seeking outside funding and/or course credit from their schools.
Knowledge of children’s issues, social services, social justice, civil rights, racial justice, LGBTQ/TGNC issues, juvenile justice and/or other areas of our work is a plus. Applicants with prior personal involvement in the systems we fight to improve and/or with other diverse life experiences and perspectives are especially encouraged to apply. For more information, please visit our website: www.childrensrights.org.
Physical and Travel Requirements:
Prolonged periods remaining stationary at a desk and working on a computer. No travel is required.
To Apply:
Please submit a detailed cover letter outlining your interest and experience, a current resume, and college transcript (unofficial transcripts are fine) as one file and upload to the Cover Letter upload field and upload your resume to the Resume field via childrensrights.bamboohr.com/jobs/by August 21, 2024. Only applicants of interest will be contacted for an interview. For any additional questions you may have regarding this position you may send an email to parainternship@childrensrights.org.
Children’s Rights is an equal employment opportunity employer, and women, people of color, LGBTQ and gender non-conforming people, people with disabilities, and people with unique lived experience or diverse professional or personal backgrounds and perspectives are encouraged to apply.