The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare (CFEFCW) is a not-for-profit peak body for child and family service organisations in Victoria. We advocate for children, young people and families and provide training, research and networking opportunities to the sector. We focus on the voices of young people in foster, kinship and residential care in Victoria, as well as working on larger Federal campaigns around equality.

The Centre is committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace, and to the health, wellbeing and cultural safety of our staff. We encourage applicants of any background, culture, gender, disability and experience to apply – we don’t discriminate.

We strongly encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Fostering connections Team

Fostering Connections provides a critical service point for the recruitment of foster carers in Victoria, supporting foster care agencies by maintaining a website and 24/7 enquiry line, as well as through campaign and branding to attract qualified carers into the system.

Organisational Accountabilities

The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare Inc. is committed to health, safety and wellbeing of its staff. The Centre and its staff must comply with a range of statutory requirements including equal opportunity, occupational health and safety and privacy. The Centre requires staff to comply with its policies and procedures and related statutory requirements. Appointees are accountable for completing training on these matters and ensuring their knowledge is up to date.

Position Summary

The Foster Carer Connection Specialist will support the strategic direction and goals of the Centre and Fostering Connections. As the key point of contact through which the public reaches Fostering Connections, the role is responsible for providing education and engagement on foster care. The role also supports agencies by providing advice on their recruitment, training and assessment processes, as well as their use of the CRM, and undertakes critical community engagement to support public understandings of foster care. The role contributes expert advice to the Fostering Connections team to ensure campaigns and other work are aligned to sector requirements.

• Reports to: Senior Manager, Strategic and Innovative Projects
• Reporting to this role: There are no positions reporting to this role

Key Accountabilities

Enquiry Line:

• Responsible for managing all incoming enquiries through enquiry line and website
• Engage in community education and engagement activities, including public facing events such as Facebook Live
• Manage Fostering Connections enquiries so qualified, warm leads are passed to agencies
• Provide feedback on enquiries to the Fostering Connections team and inform future campaigns, community engagement and sector agency strategies
• Document and lodge calls with Child Protection where appropriate
• Collect and document caller information, explain the foster care referral and accreditation process and appropriately and equitably allocate leads to agencies
• Recognise, document and alert the Senior Manager to trends in caller enquiries and recommend process improvements
• Use expertise to help produce resources and other supportive materials for the sector and public as required

Foster Care Agency Support:

• Spend a minimum of 50% of the week participating in grassroots events and community building, as well as supporting and participating in targeted community events and engagement activities
• Support agencies in their use of the CRM including reporting and ensure that data input is robust
• With support from the Senior Manager, develop and lead the data strategy to improve data input and reporting
• Provide support and advice on recruitment, training and assessment
• Undertake research and draw useful insights from data
• Other duties as assigned by the Senior Manager

Key Selection Criteria

The successful applicant will have:

Knowledge

• Knowledge and understanding of the issues facing community service organisations in the delivery of foster care services.
• A thorough understanding of the issues facing foster care in Victoria.
• End-to-end understanding of the foster care recruitment and accreditation process.

Experience

• Demonstrated experience in the social services and/or community services sector, particularly foster care.
• Demonstrated skills working directly with clients in a community service and/or foster care environment.
• Demonstrated experience building relationships with stakeholders in a complex environment.

Skills

• Demonstrated problem solving skills and well-developed time management and organisational skills
• Ability to undertake preliminary, real time review of foster care enquiries and identify qualified leads for progression, and unsuitable candidates for redirection
• Ability to provide consultation and advice on improving recruitment processes
• Ability to develop and lead community events designed to provide education and grassroots, targeted community engagement
• Ability to engage in public speaking and networking events
• Ability to use a range of software and applications including MS Office suite and customer databases
• Ability to work independently without regular supervision and as part of a team
• Ability to identify sensitive information and maintain appropriate levels of privacy and confidentiality

Qualifications

• Relevant tertiary qualification such as Social Work; Youth Work; Psychology; Behavioural Sciences; Early Childhood Development

Conditional Employment Requirements

1. Satisfactory police check
2. Satisfactory Working with Children check
3. Proof of the right to work in Australia

A position description is attached.