About Mackillop

Established in 1997, MacKillop Family Services (MacKillop) strives to ensure all families are supported to provide children with a safe and permanent home, and the best possible start to their lives.

Continuing the child and family welfare programs of our three founding agencies – the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of St Joseph and the Christian Brothers – we provide early intervention programs to support the most vulnerable families, and provide education, disability support, home-based care and out of home care for vulnerable children and young people in Victoria, NSW and WA.

Just like our founders, we are deeply committed to our work, and are driven by social justice. We believe every child should be protected from abuse, neglect and exploitation, and are a child-safe organisation that is committed to protecting and advocating for the best interests of children and families across all our programs.

Our work is underpinned by our values, and by a deep understanding of the impact of trauma, informed by the Sanctuary Model. Sanctuary is a blueprint for organisational change, which supports organisations to provide a safe, non-violent environment for people affected by trauma. It also supports staff and carers to form communities that are safe and caring, and to maintain a culture that reflects these qualities at every level within the organisation. MacKillop is the only licensed provider of training in the Sanctuary Model in Australia.

About the role

The Carer Recruitment and Development Worker is a specialist position within MacKillop whose role will be instrumental in the recruitment, training, assessment, development and retention of carers/foster carers within our Northern division. The role will ensure compliance with relevant departmental and MacKillop processes and procedures, as well as provide quality training and robust assessments of our carer applicants.

About you

We are seeking a dynamic and passionate specialist capable of delivering effective recruitment, development and retention processes to support and improve the quality of care for trauma therapeutic carers.

You will be required to:

• Represent MacKillop at community events to attract new carers and raise community awareness of care (foster care, permanent care, TCP, etc.).
• Respond to carer enquiries in a timely manner.
• Meet compliance requirements for all carers.
• Facilitate training pre and post carer accreditation, for example Shared Stories, Shared Lives and Trauma Informed Care (TIC).
• Carer and targeted carer recruitment, coordinate carer assessments, compile carer assessment reports, complete compliance checks, present carer assessment reports to the accreditation panel, and ensure carer accreditation administrative processes are completed.
• Facilitate carer support, ongoing training, assessment, review, feedback and events.
• Administer and maintain relevant carer databases.

Key selection criteria include:

The incumbent will have:

• A tertiary qualification in a relevant field of Social Work, Children’s Services, Welfare Services or equivalent.
• Shared Stories Shared Lives and Step By Step accreditation (Victoria).
• Demonstrated experience in facilitating training.
• Demonstrated experience in undertaking assessments.
• Demonstrated experience working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Proven assessment and report writing skills.
• High levels of computer literacy – Microsoft Office Suite and databases.
• A knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal culture and values and an awareness of the current issues faced by Aboriginal children, young people and their families.
• A sound professional knowledge and theory base particularly in the areas of trauma, attachment and therapeutic care.
• An ability to adhere to deadlines and meet performance measures while working under pressure (exceptional organisational and administration skills).
• A willingness to embrace the mission and values of MacKillop, the Sanctuary Model and the provision of trauma informed therapeutic care.

MacKillop is committed to being a child safe organisation. Applicants will be required to undergo a criminal records checks and hold a valid employment working with children check to be successful.

If you think you have the knowledge and skills to make a positive contribution to the lives of young people and our team, then we want to hear from you.

For more information, please contact Jasmine Perry on 0409 614 223 or [email protected].