NYC Children Is Hiring Special Officers and Youth Development Specialists: Info Sessions October 5 and 19

NEW YORK, NY — The city agency that runs New York's juvenile detention centers is recruiting in person this month. NYC Children, the agency long known as the Administration for Children's Services, is holding hiring information sessions on October 5 and October 19 for two jobs: Special Officer and Youth Development Specialist. Bring the right paperwork and you leave prescreened.

Two Mondays, two city jobs, one Lower Manhattan address. Pick the session that matches the job, bring your diploma and transcripts, and arrive at check-in.

Ready to search? Skip straight to the job links and start looking now →

📍 At a Glance

Event	Jobs NYC & NYC Children Hiring Information Sessions
Dates	Monday, October 5 and Monday, October 19, 2026
Time	9:30 AM – 3:30 PM, doors close at 2:30 PM
Location	2 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10007
Format	In person, two 90-minute sessions per day
Registration	Through the city's Eventbrite pages, linked below
Roles	Special Officer (morning) and Youth Development Specialist (afternoon)

💼 The Jobs, and Which Session Is Yours

Each date is split in two, and you attend only one half. Check-in for the Special Officer session runs 9:30 to 10:00 AM. Special Officers handle security across the agency's offices and juvenile justice facilities: controlling access, screening visitors and responding to incidents.

Check-in for the Youth Development Specialist session runs 12:30 to 1:00 PM. This is the front-line job inside secure juvenile detention. Per the agency's recruiting page, YDS staff supervise young people in detention, cover classrooms, lead activities, escort youth through the day and serve as mentors. The two detention centers are Crossroads in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and Horizon in Mott Haven in the Bronx.

YDS is shift work, with day, evening and overnight tours, and most staff work weekends and holidays.

✅ What You Need to Walk In With

Prescreening depends on documents. Bring:

A valid photo ID
Two copies of an updated resume
Proof of education: your diploma or degree, plus an unofficial transcript
Transcripts from every school you attended, undergraduate and graduate
A foreign education evaluation, if your credentials come from outside the U.S.

Youth Development Specialist applicants get one extra instruction: your resume should state the age range of the young people you worked with directly in each job. Minimum qualifications start with a high school diploma plus experience working directly with youth or young adults roughly 10 to 24, in settings like detention, schools, counseling, mentoring or coaching. A college degree in a related field can substitute for some of that experience. Professional or business attire is recommended for both sessions.

Register through the city's official listings: October 5 session and October 19 session. The agency's Youth Development Specialist page covers the role in more detail.

💵 What It Pays

Neither session listing publishes a salary. The figures we found for Youth Development Specialist come from different years and do not match, so we are not printing either one. Ask at check-in, and confirm the current range on the live city posting.

📢 Also at 2 Lafayette: Climate and Manufacturing, October 15

Different event, different day, different jobs. On Thursday, October 15, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Jobs NYC runs a Climate and Manufacturing panel and hiring event in the same building, covering clean energy, advanced manufacturing and green construction. Attendees register for one of four timeslots, and no employer list has been posted.

🔎 Start Searching Before You Go

Youth work, security and public service jobs post across all five boroughs every week, and a backup application costs nothing.

Start here:

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where are the NYC Children hiring sessions?

Monday, October 5 and Monday, October 19, 2026, at 2 Lafayette Street in Lower Manhattan. Special Officer check-in is 9:30 to 10:00 AM; Youth Development Specialist check-in is 12:30 to 1:00 PM. Doors close at 2:30 PM.

Do I have to register?

Yes. Register through the city's Eventbrite page for the date you want, linked from each official event listing.

What happens at the session?

A 90-minute information session with prescreening and qualification forms.

Where would I work as a Youth Development Specialist?

At one of the city's two secure juvenile detention centers: Crossroads in Brownsville, Brooklyn, or Horizon in Mott Haven, the Bronx.

Get Your Paperwork Together This Week

October 5 is four days out. Short a transcript? Aim for October 19. Meanwhile, create your free LocalJobPage profile to get New York alerts, and browse the Career Center for more paths into steady work.

Employers: hiring youth workers, security staff or case managers in the five boroughs? Post your openings on LocalJobPage New York.