• Based in Melbourne with opportunity to work from home/remotely
• Casual position with varied working hours (depending on business needs)
• Exceptional opportunity to provide support to families

About SSI

SSI is a community organisation and social business that supports newcomers and other Australians to achieve their full potential. We work with people with a refugee and asylum-seeking background, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, people with disability, youth and children and more to build capacity and enable them to overcome inequality.

About the Program

The Multicultural Foster Care (MFC) Program provides a range of services to assist children and young people who have been found to be in need of care and protection to meet their permanent care plan needs - safety, stability and well-being through a culturally aware and responsive lens. The MFC Program uses a client centred, strengths-based, trauma informed framework to guide its service delivery and facilitate sustainable and practical outcomes for children, young people, families and carers; working in partnership with local ethnic and sector partners. Its cultural lens aims to link children and young people with a bilingual worker and/or carer and/or community based matched bilingual support worker. The MFC Program has contractual responsibilities and regulatory responsibilities with the Department of Health & Human Services.

About the Role

The focus of this role is to recruit, train and assess (using the Step-by-Step assessment tool) and to review foster carer assessments and create carer development plans. Not only you will bring the best foster carers along the journey, you will create positive engagement experiences and support them in the valuable work they do.

Duties/responsibilities include:

• Recruit, train and assess foster carers according to the OOHC, SSI, CCYP and child safe standards;
• Provide training and coordinate the assessment of Multicultural Foster Carers;
• Assist with liaising with internal and external trainer and bilingual aids when required;
• Produce comprehensive assessment reports using analytical skills to inform recommendations;
• Complete Carer Reviews, Information Exchange/Sessions and Carer Development Plans to a high standard;
• Conduct thorough referee checks and associated checks;
• Presentations/Reports to the SSI MFC accreditation panel;
• Report to MFC Manager in regards to the progress of assessments as well as any issues/concerns raised during the course of assessment or other interactions throughout the assessment process.

About You

The successful candidate will ideally have:

• Tertiary Education in Social work or relevant qualifications and/or relevant equivalent experience
• Experience conducting comprehensive assessments (experience using Step by Step would be an advantage)
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to see or hear that little piece of information or inconsistency that would determine suitability for foster carers
• Comfortable having tough conversations in a sensitive and appropriate way
• Capacity to engage with people from all walks of life and adapt to changing circumstances
• A relevant tertiary qualification and current driver's license (pool cars are available)

If you have previously worked with culturally and linguistically diverse communities and you possess an approachable nature coupled with strong communication skills this will be an advantage.

What we offer at SSI

• Access to in-house training and learning opportunities for professional development and growth;
• Working alongside professional and dedicated team members all wanting to make a difference in our communities.

How to Apply

Please ensure a detailed cover letter and your resume is attached to your application.

All employees will undergo a National Police Clearance and a Working with Children Check as a condition of employment.

SSI will provide reasonable adjustments in our recruitment processes and in the workplace. If you require a reasonable adjustment, or want to update your preferred method of communication, please email [email protected], using the subject line: Foster Care Assessor enquiry via EthicalJobs, or call Vimla Khooblall on 02 8799 6700.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following video may contain images and footage of deceased persons - viewer discretion is advised.