Child and Family Practitioner

**Full time position based in Hurstville**:

- ** $86k - $92k pa inclusive of Super + Salary Packaging**:

- **Friendly and supportive organisation with flexible work arrangements**

We are seeking a highly motivated, passionate, and caring Child and Family Practitioner to join our Foster Care team in Hurstville. Our goal is to achieve the best outcomes for children in Out of Home Care (OOHC) and to support them to achieve to their highest potential. In the role you will be working directly with the children, their carers and family members to create a safe and secure environment for these children to thrive. This role will see you work within a well-established, welcoming and friendly team of professionals who are committed to improving the outcomes of children and young people in OOHC.

**About the role**

As a Case Manager, you will be required to use strength-based frameworks when working with children, young people, their families and carers. You will work holistically with the relevant people in the child’s life to ensure they receive the highest quality care and that their protection and welfare is always given the highest priority. You will be able to work in a fast-paced, challenging but rewarding environment and adapt easily to change while always keeping the best interests and well-being of the children at the centre of what you do.

**Duties**
- Ensuring the child/young persons safety and wellbeing is actively safeguarded and concerns are reported immediately
- Engage clients including children and young people, and their birth families and foster and/or kinship carers, where appropriate, using appropriate assessment and risk minimisation processes
- Ensuring that children/young people are actively engaged in decisions regarding their life
- Manage a caseload, ensuring children/young people have a safe, secure, and stable home environment
- Assess and support children/young people’s ongoing needs and undertake comprehensive assessments
- Providing regular support and supervision to foster carers to support them in their caring role
- Develop, implement, and review individual plans for children and young people including case plans, cultural plans, behaviour support plans and permanency plans
- Work collaboratively with other service providers involved in the child/young person’s care team including government departments and agencies, schools, health services, general practitioners, and allied health providers to ensure quality services are delivered
- Ensure all records are accurate and maintained in line with service, legislative and Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) requirements.
- Work therapeutically and being trauma informed in your practice

**Our Benefits**

We support people to live their best life. That includes you, our employee. A ‘best life’ is unique to everyone and can change as life changes. Here are a few things you might be interested in:

- **Salary Benefits -** You can package up to $15,900 pa of you pre-tax salary to pay for everyday expenses and benefit from a $2,650 meals and entertainment card + discount program before income tax is calculated, meaning you take home _even more pay_
- ** Motor Vehicle Packaging Options - **to suit your lifestyle.
- **Work/Life Balance - **Flexible work arrangements including part time hours, hybrid home/office work arrangements, 1 accrued day off a month for full time employees.
- **Recognition and Reward - **Sector competitive remuneration, various recognition programs and access to long service leave after 5 years
- **Wellness -**Fitness passport + Employee Assistance Program + opportunity to purchase additional leave.
- ** Professional development - **We tailor career development opportunities to all employees and volunteers for career enrichment, fulfilment, and growth

**Skills and Experience**
- Degree qualified in social work, early childhood, psychology or similar
- At least 12 months case management experience working with at risk children, young people and/or families in a child protection focused role, including experience undertaking comprehensive assessments
- Excellent understanding of child protection issues and client vulnerabilities such as drug and alcohol use, domestic violence, mental health issues, and the impact of trauma and the effect on child behaviour and development
- Understanding of the needs of diverse communities such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD), and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTIQ+) communities
- Good written and verbal communication skills
- Current Drivers Licence

Have any questions? Call Vanessa on 0402 121 248 for a friendly confidential chat today.

Internally this role is called a Child & Family Practitioner.