Apply Care Advocate – Advocacy Bridge

CARE Advocate Volunteer Application

The Advocacy Bridge welcomes the opportunity to get to know you better on your own terms and to improve this application for future volunteer candidates.

The Advocacy Bridge advocates for children who are experiencing foster care through the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF). We do this by recruiting, training and supervising court-appointed volunteer CARE advocates who zealously advocate as volunteer GAL’s to ensure a child’s needs are met and rights are protected. I like to say, we bring the community into the courtroom!

CARE = Child Advocate for Resources and Empowerment

Application Next steps:

We strive to streamline this application process so that you don’t have to duplicate information in multiple places. If the information we’re asking for is in your resume/CV you can skip that section and include your resume/CV in your application. NOTE: This application is estimated to take 20-30 minutes of your time.

If you have any questions or need assistance completing the application, please contact us.

Start Your Care Advocate Journey

Share your details to begin your volunteer journey today.

CARE Advocate Form

Personal Information
Emergency Contact
Information
Experience with State Agencies
Professional and/or Personal Experience with State Agencies
Employment, Career and Volunteer Experience
Personal References
Demographics
Closing

Personal Information

First Name

Last Name

Phone/Mobile

Address

Address Line 1

Address Line 2

City

State

Zip Code

Date of Birth

Emergency Information

Please provide at least one Emergency Contact

First Name

Last Name

Phone/Mobile

Relationship

Before we ask about your Professional and Community Experience

We want you to know:

CARE advocates are people like you who come from all walks of life and are willing to step up and look out for children and families navigating challenging circumstances in your community. CARE advocates are bus drivers, teachers, parents, caregivers, janitors, veterans, community leaders, people with lived experience in foster care and people who have been impacted by public systems.

Examples of public systems include:

Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA)
Department of Children and Families (DCF)
Department of Mental Health (DMH)
Department of Youth Services (DYS)
Adult systems of incarceration (Juvenile and Adult Court System)

If you're worried you don't have the 'right training' or that you can't be an advocate because you were a parent impacted by DCF or because you were in foster care as a child, we'd love to have a conversation with you! We have found that people with these life experiences have many skills they didn't even realize would make them an amazing CARE advocate.

Professional and/or Personal Experience with State Agencies

In the course of your work as a volunteer, you may have interaction with the following services and agencies. We would love to know more about your experience or familiarity with these programs; however, this information is not required. If you would like to share this information, please select the venue and method that's most comfortable for you.

I would prefer to talk about my experience with these agencies:

By writing about them in this application.

During a conversation with a staff person (Continue to employment and career section)

Do you have personal experience with the following: (Please select all that apply)

Child Protective Agencies

Foster Care

Juvenile Court

Adult systems of incarceration

Substance Use and/or Recovery

Other Child Agencies

Child abuse and/or neglect

Domestice Violence

Mental Illness or Mental Health Treatment

None of these

Prefer not to say

If you selected any of the above options, please explain:

Do you have professional experience with the following: (Please select all that apply)

Child Protective Agencies

Foster Care

Juvenile Court

Adult systems of incarceration

Substance Use and/or Recovery

Other Child Agencies

Child abuse and/or neglect

Domestice Violence

Mental Illness or Mental Health Treatment

None of these

Prefer not to say

If you selected any of the above options, please explain:

Employment, Career and Volunteer Experience

Please Upload a resume/CV that outlines your experience in these areas (Note: you will not have to complete the questions related to these topics in this application) If you have trouble uploading your resume/CV please email it to grey@bristolcasa.org

Please upload your resume and/or CV would help us learn more about you:

Choose File

Transportation Information

In your role as a volunteer with our program, you are required to transport yourself to your volunteer activities. Because we work with vulnerable populations in our agency, if you have a driver's license, you may be asked to provide a driving record as part of your background check.

What is your primary method(s) of transportation? (Select all that apply)

Public Transit

Driving a vehicle myself

Being driven by someone I know

Bicycle or Moped

Taking Uber/Lyft/taxi

Walking

Other

Other (Please Specify)

Background Checks

Experience with the courts and the judicial system will not automatically preclude you from volunteering. Please answer the following questions. If you answer yes, please give a brief explanation in the box provided.

For the safety of children and families, a comprehensive background check is required. Please tell us about any convictions or charges pending for a felony or misdemeanor, especially one involving a sex offense, child abuse or neglect, or related act that would pose risks to children or the agency's credibility.

Are you aware of any conflicts of interests that might interfere with being appointed as a volunteer? If yes, please explain.

All volunteers are subject to a routine background check. Do you consent to this check?

Personal References

Please provide the names and contact information, including email address for three (3) references. These people need to be able to speak to your background, character, abilities, etc. Relatives and spouses may not be used as references.

Name

Phone/Mobile

Relationship

Address

City

State

Zip Code

Second Reference

Name

Phone/Mobile

Relationship

Address

City

State

Zip Code

Third Reference

Name

Phone/Mobile

Relationship

Address

City

State

Zip Code

Demographics - Getting to know you!

We're committed to growing a group CARE Advocates that represents children and families most impacted by the Department of Children and Families (DCF). We also recognize that individuals should not be expected to represent an entire demographic. The following sections are designed to learn more about parts of your identity and how they inform your approach to our mission. If it would be preferred to talk about this section instead of completing it through this form, we're happy to set up a meeting.

Diversity Equity Inclusion Accessibility and Justice

It's important to The Advocacy Bridge that implement our values stated above. One way we hope to implement our values is that our goal is to develop a volunteer base that is representative of the children and families who will be appointed a CARE Advocate.

In order to achieve this goal we are collecting data from volunteer applicants. This is why the last section of our application asks about demographics related to life experience and societal constructs including race, ethnicity, professional background, language, accessibility accommodations, educational background and other areas of identity including LGBTQ+ status and whether you identify as a Person of Color (POC).

Race, Ethnic and Cultural Identities

Race and ethnicity are complex social constructs. Race is often determined by how you look in a certain context (e.g. the US), while ethnicity is based on the cultural groups you belong to and may be shaped by your social, religious, linguistic, and/or national affiliation.

If there are other aspects of your identity that you would like to share, or if the choices in this form do not accurately represent you, please let us know in the text box at the end of the page so that we may better recognize you and future applicants.

Which of these racial/ethnic categories do you identify as? (please choose all that apply)

American Indian or Alaskan Native

Asian or Asian American

Black or Afican American

Hispanic or Latino/a/x

Middle Eastern or North African

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

White

African

Another race, ethnicity or culture

Other

Other (Please specify)

Please tell us more about any cultural, national, or ethnic identities you're willing to share:

What is your primary written and/or spoken language?

Do you identify as a Person of Color (POC)?

Yes

Prefer not to say

Other

Other (Please specify)

What are your preferred pronouns?

Do you identify as LGBTQ+?

Yes

Prefer not to say

Other

Other (Please specify)

If possible, do you need to receive communications from The Advocacy Bridge in a language other than English? The Advocacy Bridge team will work their best to accommodate any translation needs.

No, I am comfortable receiving my communications from The Advocacy Bridge only in English.

Yes, receiving communications from The Advocacy Bridge, when possible, in the language specified below will make the program accessible for me.

Do you have advanced, native speaking and/or literacy expertise in the following: (Select all that apply). Note: The following languages are some of those most utilized among children and families impacted by DCF in Bristol County according to the Department of Children an Families Annual and Quarterly reports

Spanish

Portuguese

Cape Verdean Creole

Haitian Creole

Khamer (Cambodian)

American Sign Language ASL

Chinese (Mandarin)

Vietnamese

Lao

Braille Literacy Code

None

Other

Other (Please specify)

Are you in the first generation of your family to graduate... (please check all that apply, or leave blank if none apply)

High School

College

Advanced Degree

None

Prefer not to say

Do you have any access needs or accommodations needed to support your participation as a volunteer and/or in pre-service training (CART, interpretation services, fidget tools, etc.)? Please specify:

Is there anything else you'd like us to know about your application?