A growing team of child and youth workers is helping create safe, stable and supportive environments for young people in residential care.
Following a recruitment drive, the number of full-time equivalent child and youth workers directly employed by the Department for Child Protection (DCP) has increased to more than 460 as of the end of October.
This represents a 13 per cent increase on October 2024's figure and will ensure greater consistency and stability for young people in care.
Child and youth workers care for young people in residential care homes, assisting them with their daily needs, caring for them and helping them to develop their social and living skills.
To attract and develop more child and youth workers, DCP has run targeted recruitment campaigns, including international expos, exhibited at regional roadshows and career expos and held dedicated information sessions.
Workforce strategies have also been developed, tailored to the broader child protection and family support sector and to DCP specifically. Strategies have also focused on building our Aboriginal workforce, alongside streamlining of assessment, recruitment and onboarding processes.
New child and youth workers undergo an eight-week induction, where they shadow experienced staff and receive essential training. This includes undertaking a TAFE Certificate IV in Child, Youth and Family Intervention, featuring specialised modules on trauma.
To further support young people, staff are trained in the MacKillop Institute's Sanctuary Model of Therapeutic Care, equipping them with the skills to provide trauma-informed support. They also complete the Crisis Prevention Institute's Safety Intervention Training.
This student program is helping build a strong pipeline of future workers.
The department is working to build and retain a workforce to meet the child protection and family support system's needs into the future, through a number of initiatives, including internal and sector-wide workforce strategies.
The department's currently has a vacancy rate 3.8 per cent of positions.
DCP has a range of measures in place to determine potential new staff members' suitability for employment across the organisation. This includes referee checks, background history and pre-employment screening, psychological suitability assessments, working with children checks and pre-employment declarations.
As put by Katrine Hildyard
Child and youth workers are crucial to the child protection and family support system. They work hard, with compassion, care and commitment, to help improve children and young people's lives through providing welcoming and supportive homes for those living in residential care.
We have grown the number of family-based carers and we are improving opportunities for children and young people to safely live at home but know that we also need to provide high quality residential care for some children.
Residential care workers are trained in caring for young people who have often gone through some really hard circumstances and have specific needs, which can be varied and complex.
Child and youth work can be really challenging, and I am really grateful to the child and youth workers who are there for children and young people in some of their hardest moments, advocating for them and helping them to meet their goals.
