Senior Practitioner

The Intensive Family Services response will be provided to families whose children are subject to a family preservation or a family reunification order. Family Services will work in partnership with Child Protection (and other services where required) working intensively with families to achieve Child Protection case plan goals. Child Protection, or a contracted case management service, will retain case management responsibility. Family Services will support families to meet case plan goals by promoting child safety, permanency and development, increasing parenting capacity, and family functioning.  Family Services will deliver evidence based interventions and practice approaches to increase engagement of families and promote safety, stability and development of children and young people

To Be Successful in this Position You Will Need:

• A relevant tertiary qualification in Social Work, Psychology, Early Childhood Specialist and/or related behavioural sciences at degree level with substantial experience; or associate diploma level with substantial experience in the relevant service stream, or less formal qualifications with specialised skills sufficient to perform at this level;
• Resilience to work with and support clients who have been exposed to trauma;
• Experience in working with families in any of the following service areas is desirable: family services, child protection, housing, domestic violence, mental health, and/or alcohol and other drugs;
• Demonstrated ability to conduct comprehensive safety and wellbeing assessments and make sound judgments in relation to prescribed actions using the Best Interest Principles and Framework;
• Sound understanding of Child Protection system and child welfare work and demonstrated ability to liaise and negotiate with DHS Child Protection in relation to addressing protective concerns for children.