The Keeping Children Safe in Culture worker is responsible:

• For supporting the development, endorsement, implementation, and review of cultural plans for Aboriginal children and young people living in out-of-home care. KCSIC Worker will support the development of cultural plans by care teams, assessing and providing supports where needed and recommend cultural plans for endorsement. This includes reviewing cultural plans and working with care teams to ensure they are of a suitable standard and address the cultural needs of Aboriginal children and young people.
• Support child protection practitioners and contracted case manager in the implementation of contemporary methods, systems, and approaches to enhance the capacity of care teams to better respond to Aboriginal children and young people. KCSIC Worker will have a lead role with local child protection and mainstream agencies to increase the awareness of, and participation in Aboriginal cultural activities by Aboriginal children and young people. This will include contributing to the development, implementation, and maintenance of the cultural information portal.

 

Organisational Values:

The Keeping Children Safe in Culture worker will embrace Njernda’s vision for empowering our Aboriginal community and the organisation’s values:

 

• Respect
  Establishing relationships based on respect and trust.
• Resilience
  Encouraging cultural and spiritual growth to enable personal growth.
• Cultural Sensitivity
  Welcoming and serving our community with understanding and without judgement.
• Advocacy
  Working to transform the disadvantaged and challenge the causes that impact on our community.
• Accountability
  Taking ownership and initiative of Njernda values to ensure trusted collaborations are formed.

 

Key responsibilities:

 

• Provide quality, timely and effective specialist knowledge to care teams, including complex matters, in developing, implementing, and reviewing cultural plans.
• Assist care teams to ensure cultural plans meet the cultural needs of Aboriginal children and young people, as well as reflecting the best interest’s principles as the primary consideration for all case planning.
• Prepare documentation, present information, and make recommendations to the Out of Home Care Manager on cultural plans, ensuring decisions and actions are in the best interest of the child.
• Provide information to children, families, carers and service providers on Cultural Planning procedures, practices and guidelines and provide advice and case consultation on the Aboriginal cultural needs of Aboriginal children and young people, including services available to help meet needs.
• Monitor, analyse and review cultural plans; assess the effectiveness of the plan provided to Aboriginal children and young people and provide well-developed recommendations on future actions required to support the maintenance and strengthening of Aboriginal children and young people’s connection their Aboriginal community and culture.
• Collaborate with care teams to ensure Aboriginal input and to provide an essential cultural lens into all cultural plans, and ensure care teams undertake reasonable steps to identify, gather information, and explore vulnerable Aboriginal children and young people’s Aboriginal heritage and family. When necessary, work with an Aboriginal child and their families to obtain information and develop plans.
• Actively contribute as a collaborative team member in the ongoing development and review of cultural plans, related to strengthening Aboriginal children and young people’s connection to their Aboriginal, family, community, and culture.
• Use a range of IT/web-based applications to manage workflow.
• Facilitate information sessions to Njernda and Child Protection case managers around cultural planning procedures and practices.
• Identify and apply appropriate research in forming interventions and develop innovative solutions to complex and difficult cases, drawing on a range of professional networks to identify gaps in case assessments.
• Manage competing demands able to negotiate and provide advocacy for children and their families.
• Able to be flexible and work after hours.
• Participate in Supervision with a focus on professional development, accountability, and worker self-care.
• Participate in training to develop practice.

 

Key Selection Criteria:

Applicants must possess:

Required Education, Experience, and Competencies

• Demonstrate knowledge of the unique history and current circumstances of Aboriginal children, families and community and ability to apply this to Cultural planning.
• Demonstrate knowledge of Aboriginal cultures and communities, preferably Victorian communities.
• Demonstrated understanding and ability to embed in practice, the core responsibilities and principles underpinning cultural planning for Aboriginal children residing in out-of-home care.
• An understanding of Yorta Yorta and Echuca community kinship linkages and understanding of and experience in supporting families in developing family trees.
• Demonstrated ability to work with Aboriginal children and their families in a complex environment to gather and analyse information that promotes development and implementation of their cultural plan.
• Demonstrated ability to build professional networks across a range of organisations and individuals to promote collaborative working groups that focus on meeting the best interests of vulnerable Aboriginal children and young people.
• Experience in delivering results that focuses on the best interest of the child and achieves positive, long-lasting outcomes for children and families at an advanced level.
• Ability to manage and care for self to maintain resilience and support when working within a challenging operating environment including maintaining data compliance.
• Self-management invites feedback on own behaviour and impact; uses new knowledge or information about self to build a broader understanding of own behaviour and the impact it has on others; understands strong emotional reactions and seeks ways to manage them more effectively.

 

Personal Qualities:

• Ability to achieve results – takes initiative to proactively crating solutions and solving of problems.
• Decisiveness – Makes rational and sound decisions based on consideration and facts.
• Resilient – responds thoughtfully, seeks guidance, communicates effectively. when working with children and families in crisis and who have experienced trauma.
• Adaptable – willing to learn.

Essential:

• Appointment is subject to a satisfactory National Police Records Check and Working with Children Check & Driver’s License check.
• Commitment to equal opportunity and occupational health and safety principles and practices is required.
• You will need to disclose any pre-existing illness or injury you know about which could be affected by the described work duties.
• Under section 82 (7) of the Accident Compensation Act, failure to disclose such a pre-existing illness or injury will mean that, if employed, you will not be paid compensation for that condition.

 

Please note, this is an identified position open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants only

 

To be eligible for an interview:

All applicants must address the Key Selection Criteria and include a recent resume.

Written applications should include:

• • a cover letter.
  • resume
  • must address the selection criteria otherwise interview will not be given.
  • Please include the names and telephone contacts of at least two referees

 

Address your application marked: “Private & Confidential” to:

HR Manager

Njernda Aboriginal Corporation

307 High St, Echuca Vic 3564

PO Box 201, Echuca Vic 3564

Email             jobs@njernda.com.au

Please check the closing date to ensure your application is received within the specified time. Applications may be posted, emailed, hand delivered or faxed (provided that a hard copy is posted on the same day).

Applications may be posted, emailed, hand delivered or faxed (provided that a hard copy is posted on the same day).

 

All applications close: 15th Nov 2024