Case Officer - Intensive Family Support

Why join Youturn?

• Flexibility: Enjoy work-life balance with this permanent full time orpart time role (30 hours per week), allowing flexibility for negotiating start/finish times, tailoring your career to your lifestyle! 
• Benefits & Leave: Recharge with 5-days of pro-rata paid wellness leave each year and enjoy additional benefits including corporate fitness discounts.  Gain access to a wide range of exclusive offers across various retailers through our partnership with Rewards Gateway!  Unlock 12-weeks paid parental leave benefits after just one year of dedicated service.  
• Salary Packaging: Maximise your income by increasing your take home pay with an annual salary plus 11% Superannuation, plus a generous $15,900 salary package and annual leave loading! 
• Culture & Values: Supporting young people in their time of need, is at the heart of what we do at Youturn.  Our organisational culture is built on trusting relationships that are meaningful and inclusive. We listen to understand, we embrace diversity and we offer a safe space free from judgement.  
  To ensure our young people receive individualised support, we invest in team members who embody our values to foster a collaborative culture of excellence.

Youturn is a national not-for-profit which delivers Health and Community Services to vulnerable people of all ages across Australia. Trusted to deliver safe, inclusive, and supportive programs, Youturn ensures that those we support can have access to secure and affordable housing and enjoy optimal mental well-being, allowing them to thrive and live a healthy, meaningful life.

In the past year alone, Youturn has provided support to nearly 10,000 individuals through a diverse range of health and community service initiatives. These programs encompass:

• Mental Health: Providing clinical and non-clinical support services to young people to manage their mental health.
• Suicide Prevention: Supporting people and communities bereaved or impacted by suicide.
• Child Safety: Providing children and young people with safe and caring environments.
• Homelessness: Delivering sustainable housing for those in need in our communities.

The Opportunity

The IFS program works directly with families experiencing multiple and/or complex needs with children unborn to 18 years of age who maybe at risk of entering the statutory child protection system if support is not provided. 

As a Case Officer with the Intensive Family Support team, you will provide intensive and extended, but time limited, in-home support to improve family functioning and safety for children by building the skills and capacity of parents/ caregivers to a level that can be sustained. 

You will be responsible for the cycle of assessment, planning, implementation, and review of the family’s case plan. You will also work from an evidence informed, strengths based practice, to increase parenting skills to achieve child safety and wellbeing. 

Key responsibilities of this role include:

• Support client engagement upon referral to the service.
• Seek informed consent from families to contact other services or practitioners the family is involved with.
• Develop an understanding of the primary needs of the family including consistent assessment of risks and needs using Common Assessment Tools determined by the department.
• Determine, access, or deliver the most appropriate service to provide culturally respectful and competent service delivery for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and culturally and linguistically diverse families.
• Support the functioning of individuals and families through individual and/or Family Support, non-therapeutic counselling, and practical support.
• Act as a single point of contact for the family assuming responsibility for case management within the IFS.
• Advocate, negotiate and assist clients to access other services and maximise opportunity for optimum client participation in service delivery.
• Co-ordinate the delivery of actions agreed by relevant practitioners and services involved.
• Deliver parenting support through tailored interventions to build the skills and capacity of parents and carers to safely nurture and protect their children.
• Ensure that the safety of the child is paramount.
• Work in a dynamic team with other case managers, specialist and support staff.

Please respond to the criteria below in your cover letter: 

Essential

• University qualifications in Social Work, Human Services, Psychology or similar field.
• Minimum 3 years of extensive experience working with families with complex needs and understanding of child protective needs. 
• Experience supporting families in the child protection setting, with knowledge of relevant theory and legislation, supported by a practice approach that aligns with the Strengthening Families, Protecting Children framework and broad-based safety and risk assessment skills including the application of a Safe & Together model of practice. 
• Clear understanding of the current Child Protection legislation. 

Selection Criteria

• Extensive experience in the delivery of client centered case management and demonstrated ability in applying such principles.
• High understanding of child protective issues and Family Support approaches.
• Understanding of issues facing children and families with complex family dynamics and needs.
• Demonstrated ability to build effective relationships with clients, which will involve having highly developed interpersonal skills, an important aspect of working with complex families.
• An ability to interpret and understand Government legislation, specifically an understanding of relevant legislation, policies and practices that impact on service development and delivery. This includes knowledge of the Child Safety Service Standards and licensing requirements.
• Demonstrated competence in working with people, including those from diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Highly developed interpersonal and negotiation skills; including a proven ability to develop rapport and communicate with employers and staff from government Departments, community agencies and training and industry organisations.
• Highly developed written communication skills in professional report writing.

Other Requirements

• This role may include some evening and early morning work in order to meet client needs.
• Successful applicants will also need to hold a ‘C’ class Open driver licence, State Working with Children Check and hold, or be eligible to apply for, a Licensed Care Suitability Check issued by the QLD Department of Child Safety, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs. 

We’d love to meet you!
If you have the skills, experience and passion to fit our team, please take the next step and apply by submitting your resume and cover letter.

For everyone who shares our passion
We encourage applications from people of all ages, nationalities, abilities and cultures – including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the LGBTQI+ community and people living with disability.