Quality Assurance & Practice Officer

* Full time, 12 Month Contract, working 35 hours per week

     * Hybrid working – based in Bankstown with 2 days per week WFH

     * Rewarding role utilising your extensive OOHC practice skills

Do you want to work with a leading purpose driven, community-based organisation?

SSI’s vision is to achieve a society that values the diversity of its people and actively provides support to ensure meaningful social and economic participation and to assist individuals and families to reach their potential.

About the Multicultural Child and Family Program (MCFP)

SSI delivers a specialist out-of-home care service that provides a culturally appropriate model for children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds aged 0–18 years. We have a strong commitment to culturally responsive services to ensure children in care stay connected with their culture, religion and language.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced caseworker to join our Quality Assurance and Practice team within the MCFP program based in Bankstown. This person may be interested in engaging in another important aspect of out of home care by driving, coordinating and implementing quality assurance, compliance and practice improvement strategies to ensure the health, welfare and wellbeing of the  children, families, carers and other stakeholders in our out of home care program. 

This role will work closely with MCFP caseworkers and case managers to monitor, review and facilitate practices that meet the accreditation requirements of the Dept. of Communities & Justice (DCJ)) service delivery contract and the Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) standards of practice, both of which guide the practices and support for children and young people in out of home care.

In this role, the successful candidate will also assist in reporting on child focused permanency standards, child well-being outcomes and analysing data to maintain high practice standards.

Key responsibilities include, but not limited to:

     * Work with team members to undertake quality audits and analyse activities within the program; ensure quality assurance records and relevant information are collated and analysed on a regular basis;

     * Maintain an incident log, risk mitigation strategies and implement the quality safeguarding framework

     * Provide 1:1 and small group practice guidance to case workers;

     * Participate in and contribute to internal learning and development programs;

     * Develop and maintain positive professional relationships with all internal and external stakeholders, including DCJ. Develop and maintain a program compliance work plan that facilitates collating evidence of practices against the OCG permanency standards;

     * Assist with collation of all findings and improvement opportunities through written reports which include practical recommendations reflective of implementation and change management principles;

     * Contribute to activities which sustain practice monitoring and responsiveness to continuous quality improvements for children, young people, carers, family members and other stakeholders who support SSI deliver permanency support programs and related contractual requirements;

About you

The successful candidate will ideally have the following skills & experience:

     * Bachelor’s degree in Social Work or related discipline;

     * Demonstrated work experience in out of home care or child protection or related child and family sector. 3 years + experience preferred.

     * Understanding of and experience in the field of casework assessment and training within permanency support programs and/or Out Of Home Care and/or child protection; Strong experience as a practitioner in OOHC is a must

     * Knowledge of the OCG Child Safe Standards for Permanent Care;

     * Understanding of and commitment to use of data for quality improvement

     * Excellent written and verbal communication skills;

     * Well-developed analytical, critical thinking and assessment skills coupled with intermediate MS office skills; Intermediate Excel skills desirable;

     * A valid NSW driver’s licence is also desirable.

If you have good relationships at DCJ or similar agency’s and you’re ready to contribute, participate, build connections and make a positive impact, please apply now!

About our Benefits

     * Salary packaging options to receive up to $15,900 of your salary tax-free meaning more take-home pay!

     * Industry leading flexible working arrangement supported to work from home and office, including 9-day fortnight;

     * Access to in-house training and learning opportunities for professional development and growth.

     * Access to our inhouse wellbeing programs

     * Working alongside professional and dedicated team members all wanting to make a difference in our communities.

About our Recruitment Process

At SSI and Access, we have a zero tolerance for child abuse and is committed to creating and maintaining a child safe organisation where protecting children and preventing and responding to child abuse is embedded in the everyday thinking and practice of all employees, contractors and volunteers. All employees will undergo a National Police Clearance and a Working with Children Check as a condition of employment.

To Apply

If excited by the information above, we look forward to receiving your application, including your resume and cover letter expressing your interest and suitability for the role. SSI expects all applicants who can be safely vaccinated for COVID-19, to be so. This is also a pre-condition to ongoing employment.

Should you require further information about the role please contact talent@ssi.org.au

A recruitment pool may be created for permanent and temporary opportunities of the same role or role type that may become available in the future.

We are a Disability Confident Recruiter, and our Talent Acquisition team can assist in; providing alternative formats to apply, making adjustments to the recruitment process and offering information about workplace adjustments and support networks.

Should you require adjustments please email us at talent@ssi.org.au or call Theresa on 0461 836 759

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following video may contain images and footage of deceased persons – viewer discretion is advised.