About the Organisation

Every day, Life Without Barriers provides support and care to children and young people, as we work collaboratively with families, carers, and communities, to ensure they have the environment they deserve to grow. With a focus on ensuring safety and respect, this is an opportunity to make a positive and meaningful difference in these young lives and help pave a brighter future.

Life Without Barriers is a leading social purpose organisation of 8,000 employees working in more than 500 communities across Australia. We support children, young people and families, people with disability, older people and people with mental illness. We work with people who are homeless and refugees and asylum seekers. Join a community of people dedicated to breaking down barriers.

We want to employ people who reflect the diversity of our clients to ensure we can support each client's individual needs and wants. We encourage people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background and people with disability to apply.

About the role

As a Youth Worker within our Family Based Care team in Wollongong, you will provide high quality mentoring and support that enhances the lives of children and young people and assists them to work towards and achieve their individual goals.

To be successful in this role, you'll need previous experience supporting Children & Young People, ideally within an out of home care setting, and prior understanding of the TCI framework. The casual nature of this role will require the successful applicant to have  flexible availability to work across a range of shift types including morning, evenings, weekends and public holidays.

To be considered for and appointed to a position at Life Without Barriers, you must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with a minimum of two (2) doses or hold a valid medical exemption certificate, in accordance with Life Without Barriers Employee COVID-19 Vaccination Policy. You will be required to provide evidence of your vaccination status during the recruitment process. 

Key Responsibilities

• Work within a team to deliver quality services for children and young people who are living in a family-based care setting.
• Mentoring children and young people.
• Transportation for children and young people to appointments or to and from school.
• Supervising contact visits for children and young people with their families.
• Alternate care arrangement shifts, either full day or sleepover shifts in a residential environment.
• Develop individual, therapeutic, recreational, or skills-development activities that are consistent with and supportive of the care plans developed for each child.

Skills & Experience

• Either hold and maintain; or be actively working towards a Certificate IV in Child, Youth and Family Intervention (Residential Care) and obtain the qualification within the timeframes determined by the relevant training authority.
• Current First Aid (HLTAID003 or HLTAID011) & CPR (HLTAID001 OR HLTAID009) Certificate/s
• Current Drivers Licence
• Vehicle with 3rd party insurance, that can be used for work purposes
• Ability to build positive relationships with a range of key stakeholders including Children & Young People, Families and carers
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Computer literacy and ability to confidently access online systems, file notes and records

Successful candidates will be required to clear probity checks including National Criminal History Record Check and Working with Children Check.

How to Apply

Include your resume and covering letter in one document, click ‘Apply Now’ and follow the prompts. For any enquiries including persons with disability that require adjustments, contact Kristy Crowe via [email protected] using the subject line: Youth Worker - Casual - Wollongong enquiry via EthicalJobs.

Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible as applications are continuously reviewed prior to the closing date; and as such the closing date is subject to change without notice.

We are dedicated to playing our part to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and bring continuity of care and support to our clients. With this in mind, if you are successful, we will discuss with you an alternative to a face to face interview. 

Life Without Barriers supports the Royal Commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability. We believe people with disability need to be heard and for these experiences to influence how support services like ours are delivered. View our statement here https://bit.ly/2GzZGWA.