As a child protection practitioner, you will join over 2,000 other qualified social welfare and behavioural professionals passionate about social justice and the rights of children.
A challenging and rewarding career
Child protection work is rewarding, fulfilling, challenging and demanding. We’re looking for professionals who are confident and resilient, with a strong sense of social justice. You must be empathetic and open to change when working collaboratively with families and other professionals. While there is a need for therapy-based skills, a great deal of case work involves statutory investigation, analysis and critical thinking.
Starting your career journey
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing is committed to developing your professional career through training, achievement, planning and review processes.
As a child protection practitioner, you’ll be committing to a future where you can make meaningful change to the lives of children. In this statutory role, your social work or welfare qualifications will be welcomed into a supportive and hard-working team who share a common goal.
You’ll manage cases and work with other professionals in the community to assess reports of child abuse and neglect, and at times present matters to the Children’s Court of Victoria.
You’ll work with colleagues, families, doctors, legal experts, educators and other professionals and build networks across communities. You will acquire an excellent grounding across the child and family services system, while managing a variety of complex matters. The work is diverse and ever-changing.
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing is committed to developing your professional career through our student placement and employment programs, on the job training, support, and ongoing supervision.
Changing careers or returning to work
If you already have experience in an associated area, such as social work, psychology or welfare, then you can take your career to the next level as a child protection practitioner. DFFH will support you with access to a broad range of professional development, training and education programs to help you develop your career.
If you’re a practitioner returning to work, child protection can offer you the flexibility of shorter working weeks and how you manage your hours.
Over the past three years significant work has occurred to implement programs to strengthen the mental health of the workforce and build a safe and secure workplace.
The child protection practitioner wellbeing program offers 24/7 employee wellbeing programs, access to peer support networks, resilience training, mentoring and specialist support.