Child Safety roles and responsibilities

Our Child Safety Officers (CSO) are responsible for providing statutory child protection services including assessment, intervention, casework and case management in accordance with legislation and practice guidelines.

A CSO works in teams (often multi-disciplinary) based in a Child Safety Service Centre covering a specific geographical area.

Interpersonal skills are critical for a CSO to build relationships and interact with various professionals to ensure children are protected and families are provided with the support they need.

They work within a professional team and enjoy the support and supervision from experienced team members. Our CSOs are mentored and encouraged to pursue continuous learning opportunities throughout their career.

Our Senior Child Safety Officers (SCSO) are responsible for ensuring the safety, belonging and wellbeing of all children and young people throughout the child protection process.

A SCSO is responsible for delivering statutory child protection services including assessment, intervention, casework and case management for complex cases, as well as delivering services in accordance with legislation, practice guidelines, and a strength-based framework for practice.

They are required to work with CSOs and CSSOs on complex and sensitive cases.

This role provides mentoring and support to develop the skills and knowledge of newly appointed and less experienced CSOs and CSSOs.

They work in teams (often multi-disciplinary) based in a Child Safety Service Centre covering a specific geographical area.

Our Cultural Practice Advisors (CPA) work within a multi-disciplinary team and draw on personal experience and knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditions and customs to provide high-quality, culturally safe and appropriate child protection services to children, families and carers.

A CPA provides individualised, high quality, and culturally appropriate casework support to children and families subject to tertiary child protection intervention, including, but not limited to, facilitation of positive family connection and reunification through their knowledge of the community and cultural protocols; kinship care options; referrals and advocacy for culturally specific services; and support of transition-from-care plans.

CPAs have a clear focus on the provision of culturally appropriate services. They will use their cultural expertise and knowledge to foster respectful relationships with communities and enhance positive relationships between children/young people and their families.

They work collaboratively with key stakeholders, including children and parents, families and Recognised Entities, to support establishing and strengthening effective safety and support networks, including connection to extended family, community, country and culture.

They work in teams (often multi-disciplinary) based in a Child Safety Service Centre covering a specific geographical area.

Our Child Safety Support Officers (CSSO) work within a multi-disciplinary team and provide individualised, high-quality and culturally appropriate support to children and families who require statutory child protection intervention.

This may include facilitation of positive family connection, referrals and advocacy for services, parent coaching and support of 'transition from care' plans.

They work collaboratively with key stakeholders, children and parents to build effective safety and support networks, including connection to extended family and community.

CSSOs also provide comprehensive casework support and advice to assist in decision-making about the safety and protective needs of children where there are complex child protection concerns. This includes preparing and maintaining quality case records in accordance with departmental case management requirements.

Working in this role provides an excellent grounding for study and career advancement to professional Child Safety Officer roles.

Our Senior Team Leaders (STL) manage a team of professional and operational staff to ensure the delivery of high-quality child protection services.

This includes assessment, intervention, casework, and case management in accordance with legislation and practice guidelines to children, young people, families and communities.

A STL works in a collaborative, integrated, multi-disciplinary team that may include representation from other agencies.

Our Senior Practitioners are responsible for providing specialist advice, guidance and oversight to ensure quality child protection services are maintained.

They ensure assessment, intervention, casework and case management are delivered by the Child Safety Service Centre team to a high standard and in accordance with legislation and practice guidelines.

They provide practice supervision individually and in groups to the CSOs and SCSOs.

Responsibilities include receiving information about concerns for a child's safety and assessing the information to determine the right response.

Responsibilities include investigating concerns received about harm or risk of harm to a child and determining whether the child is in need of protection.

Responsibilities include working with parents where it's been assessed that their child is in need of protection, and the parents have agreed to work with our Child Safety Officers to make changes to meet the child's needs while the child remains at home. This includes developing and managing case plans with the family and making referrals to support services.

Responsibilities include working with children under child protection orders who are living in foster and kinship care or residential care arrangements. This includes supporting children and their parents to meet case plan goals towards reunification or permanency outcomes.

Responsibilities include providing statutory care placements for children who are unable to live with their own families. It includes working with child safety service centre teams and service providers to match children with suitable carers to meet the support and cultural needs of children.