news item
More support for child protection practitioners
A $3.8 million package to support child protection workers was announced by The Hon. Mary Wooldrige, Minister for Community Services on 21 February.
The department's child protection practitioners will benefit from a range of support, including one-on-one coaching for managers and team-leaders, and graduate courses in child and family practice.
Regional retention initiatives will also be developed, based upon a large-scale child protection staff survey and face-to-face feedback sessions, to find out what is currently working, and where more support is needed.
As part of the workforce support package, the Minister also launched a targeted attraction and retention campaign, taking an innovative approach to child protection recruitment through online and print advertising.
The campaign tagline, "Rewrite tomorrow, one child at a time", goes to the heart of why practitioners do what they do.
Prospective candidates are able to watch on line a realistic job preview about the day-to-day work of a child protection practitioner, to give them a good understanding about what the role will involve.
The new workforce support package follows the announcement by Premier Ted Baillieu on 31 January 2011 of the Inquiry into child protection - Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children.
To view the new child protection recruitment website, visit: www.dhs.vic.gov.au/childprotectionjobs
