The Roles

Our frontline child protection workers ensure that children and young people in our communities are safe and protected from harm. They work with children, young people and families who are vulnerable or in crisis and make decisions based on best practice and significant consultation with colleagues in specialised roles. Specialist roles include:

• Aboriginal Practice Leader
• Senior Practice Development Officer
• Psychologists (Clinical and Counselling)
• Education Officers and Senior Education Officers
• Legal Support Officers
• Child Protection Worker Family Domestic Violence
• Senior Child Protection Worker Family Domestic Violence

ABORIGINAL PRACTICE LEADER

The Aboriginal Practice Leader is responsible to lead consistent and high standards of services to Aboriginal children, young people and families by contributing to the development and implementation of effective practices relating to Aboriginal children and their families.

Every District Office has an Aboriginal Practice Leader who provides high level advice to the District Director and Leadership Team on issues relating to Aboriginal services. They contribute to Duty/Intake discussion and assessment and on-going case-management relating to Aboriginal children and their families. The Aboriginal Practice Leader plays a crucial role in the implementation of quality assurance mechanisms that support monitoring and continuous improvement of services to Aboriginal children and their families.

Aboriginality is a genuine requirement for this position and even though no tertiary qualifications are required the Department requires considerable practical experience and advanced skills, and knowledge relating to the support and protection of Aboriginal children and families. Find out more about the role.

SENIOR PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER (SPDO)

The Senior Practice Development Officer plays a key role in providing advice, consultation and assistance to front line staff within the District on operational policy and practice matters and complex casework practice issues.

This role promotes quality practice and continuous improvement in the delivery of services and contributes to the development, monitoring and reviewing of frameworks that will support their operation. The SPDO also contributes to professional development and practice development by engaging in a range of learning strategies including mentoring and coaching.

A successful SPDO will possess sound analytical and risk assessment skills. A tertiary qualification will also be required to join us as a SPDO. A relevant qualification is a Bachelor or Master of Social Work or a Bachelor of Psychology. Other qualifications in a relevant Human Services area may also be considered.

PSYCHOLOGISTS (CLINICAL, COUNSELLING, FORENSICS)

Departmental Psychologists work in multidisciplinary teams to promote the safety and well-being of children and young people in the District. Senior Consultants and Clinicians are available to Intake and Early Intervention teams for complex consultation and interventions. They provide consultation, conduct psychological assessments and plan and implement interventions with children, young people, their families and carers. Suitably experienced District Psychologists are also required to provide assessments and reports for the Children’s Court and give expert testimony in Court.

Country District Psychologists are part of a broader Psychology Team as well as a regional Country Psychology team and are responsible for the provision of formal assessments. Country positions offer a lot a variety and job satisfaction.  Apart from core duties they also run groups for children, young people and parents, and provide training for staff, carers and other community members on topics relating to psychology and child protection.  Networking and working collaboratively with other agencies and service providers is also an important part of the role.

Our Psychologists in Residential Care and Secure Care work closely with both the children and their carers. The children in our Group Homes and Secure Care facility require therapeutic intervention delivered through their daily life relationships with their carers. It is the psychologist’s primary task to facilitate this by providing the carers with information, modelling, coaching, support, encouragement and guidance. Therapeutic interactions with the children, to promote and enable their adjustment, will also form part of their role, and will include Trauma Profiling and clinical planning for children and young people in Group Homes.  This includes referral out, district consultation and the development of individual therapeutic plans.

Our staff are able to work autonomously, and apply psychological services in creative, culturally sensitive and flexible ways to children and young people with histories of complex trauma and disrupted attachment, as well as their families and carers. The ideal candidate for this role will have resilience, persistence, clinical acumen, mindfulness, flexibility, leadership and a commitment to optimising the potential of disadvantaged children

EDUCATION OFFICERS AND SENIOR EDUCATION OFFICERS

The Education Officer develops, identifies and maintains appropriate local educational resources and programs to provide education services for children who come under the care of, or to the attention of the Department. They provide educational and social skill development support to children and young people, and co-ordinate and monitor the provision of tuition services for these children.

If you work in one of our Group Homes it will also be your responsibility to assess the educational abilities of the children and identify appropriate programs or activities to support the child’s development. The Education Officer reports to the Senior Education Officer, who is responsible for more complex cases. The Senior Education Officer also coordinates, implements and supports education related departmental projects and policy initiatives. Due to the nature of the role, the Senior Education Officer provides education case practice consultation and support to assigned Education Officers.

To be considered for this role, you will need to hold a four year Bachelor Degree in Education or relevant equivalent with demonstrated experience in maintaining schooling and education support to children, schools, carers and/or families; and working and liaising with schooling and alternative education programs.

LEGAL SUPPORT OFFICERS (LSO)

The Legal Support Officer (LSO) provides a point of liaison between Legal Practice Services and our district based child protection teams. They are generally responsible for assisting frontline staff to prepare legal documents when a child comes into care, or is already in care and requires a new order, amended order, or revocation of their order. Each LSO has a different sphere of responsibilities specific to their allocated District/s and Offices.

The role of the LSO is varied, and includes: 

• Representing the Department in court appearances.
• Supporting case managers with children in custody matters – providing verbal submissions in support of bail applications for example when a decision is to be made on the placement/care arrangements for the child;
• Supporting staff through trial preparation and facilitating training on legal process for District staff.
• Traveling throughout the district to support staff on legal process in court for Care and Protection mentions, violence restraining order applications, mentions and hearings.

Even though a qualification is not a requirement for this role, you must have a demonstrated understanding of and/or experience in statutory child protection, understanding of and experience in dealing with legislation relating to child protection and children in care, and understanding of and/or experience in Children's Court processes and procedures.

CHILD PROTECTION WORKER AND SENIOR CHILD PROTECTION WORKER - FAMILY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The Family and Domestic Violence Response Teams (FDVRT) are a partnership between the Department, Western Australia Police and community sector family and domestic violence services. The role of the FDVRTs is to provide timely, coordinated and safety focused responses to child and adult victims of family and domestic violence, as identified by WA Police. The Department is the lead agency on this team and are represented by our Child Protection Workers and Senior Child Protection Workers, Family Domestic Violence. They form an integral part of the Family and Domestic Violence Response Team and are responsible for assessing risk in domestic violence matters and plans interagency responses to domestic violence, including conducting joint home visits to families experiencing domestic violence. Members of this team also provide support and consultation to child protection staff in relation to domestic violence in families; and provide assessment, planning and intervention at an advanced level to individuals and communities with a service delivery team. They take responsibility for case decision making around family and domestic violence situations.

The Senior Child Protection Worker Family Domestic Violence engages with community groups and other agencies to promote relevant support and coordination for clients experiencing domestic violence. They also take legal action to promote the safety and well-being of children where necessary. In general they are responsible for undertaking case work activities of a complex nature.