Catholic Charities Legal Services "CCLS" is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1998 to serve South Florida's low-income immigrant community. CCLS is primarily comprised of attorneys and immigration professionals whose mission is to provide holistic legal services without regard to faith or national origin. CCLS has several programs providing services to vulnerable populations including detainees and asylum.
seekers. One of the largest programs provides direct representation to unaccompanied children who have crossed the southern border alone. The entire legal staff at CCLS aims to provide culturally competent and age-appropriate legal services by working with a social services coordinator. The role of a social services coordinator is vital to offer trauma informed legal representation and to coordinate social services such as assisting CLS clients with obtaining housing, education, food and medical services in addition to making external referrals for ongoing mental health services. The social services coordinator is also responsible for providing psychoeducation and relaxation skills to clients that have a history of trauma and are scheduled for an intake or preparing for court hearings. If necessary, the social services coordinator provides crisis interventions to clients that may be experiencing a crisis. In addition to working with tender aged children, teenagers, and young adults, CCLS assists persons of all ages and diverse backgrounds including homeless populations and those deemed mentally incompetent to appear in immigration proceedings without a representative.

Special Placement Information:

The Agency is accepting BSW Full-time, MSW 1st year students, MSW 2nd year and Advanced Standing, Part-time BSW, Part-time MSW.  
The student is an employee at our agency and will use her usual method of transportation. A stipend will not be provided. Video and audio taping is not permitted. Hours of operation are Monday-Friday 9AM­ SPM. Some Saturdays may be required due to community outreach events. Due to the populations served, on occasion a client may require social services over the weekend due to sudden homelessness/temporary housing placement.  CCLS is open to housing more interns who are bilingual (Spanish or Creole) and are interested in assisting low-income immigrant communities.