The Department for Child Protection (DCP) is currently seeking a Senior Social Worker or Senior Case Manager to join the DCP Call Centre on a full-time term basis.

As a call centre senior social worker or senior case manager, you will receive and assess allegations of child abuse and neglect via the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) and the online child abuse reporting system (eCARL).

In this role, you will interact directly with members of the public and professional mandated notifiers, gathering sensitive information on child protection matters and accurately documenting it in the department's approved systems.

This position offers the opportunity to utilise your assessment skills to determine if the information gathered meets legislative thresholds for intervention, followed by taking appropriate actions in line with our policies and procedures.

For those working after hours, the position also includes responding to urgent child protection matters and crisis situations.

The role requires capturing accurate information, reporting, and demonstrating strong written communication and relationship-building skills. Superior verbal communication skills are essential to support callers in a calm, controlled, and professional manner.

About You

In this role, you will use your knowledge of child development, parenting capacity, and family and environmental factors, including those contributing to child abuse, to effectively address and manage critical situations.

Given the necessity to interact with a diverse array of highly emotive notifiers, exceptional communication and comprehension skills are crucial. You must be able to understand idiomatic language and local vernacular accurately and naturally.

Your ability to listen to complex narratives over phone calls, record all details clearly and concisely, and provide empathetic and professional responses to a wide range of emotional stakeholders is essential. Professional report writing skills of a high standard is required for this role.

Additionally, you will need to identify and respond to the needs and risks concerning the safety, wellbeing, and development of children and young people. Your quick and effective assessment skills will enable you to form opinions on client needs and determine appropriate courses of action.

Essential Qualifications

AHP: A degree level qualification in Social Work which gives eligibility for full membership of the Australian Association of Social Workers.
PO: Appropriate degree qualification in Community Services, Social Sciences, Human Services, Health or related field.

Persons of Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, who have the appropriate background and skills but do not have the essential qualification, may apply for and be engaged/assigned to the role of Social Worker and will be entitled to apply for any Allied Health Professional roles requiring a qualification in Social Work within the Department for Child Protection (DCP).

The DCP Call Centre operates on a 24 hour shift work basis. In some roles you will be required to undertake regular out of hours work, and attendance at nights, evenings and weekends on a rotating shift basis. Appropriate penalties are applied for this arrangement.

To find out more about this role, including the key selection criteria and special conditions, please click on the attached role descriptions.

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The Department for Child Protection (DCP) plays a key role in the protection of children, young people and their families within South Australia. The department provides support to vulnerable children and young people to be safe, strong and connected. 

The DCP Call Centre is comprised of 2 key state-wide services, Child Abuse Report Line and DCP After Hours. The Call Centre employs Social Workers who receive information from the community and undertake complex assessments regarding the safety of children.

For workers providing an After Hours service, this also includes responding to urgent child protection matters, as well as crisis situations involving children who are in Out of Home Care.

What We Offer:

• Career progression tailored to your goals: we are a large organisation with diverse opportunities across metropolitan Adelaide, regional and remote South Australia
• Employee Assistance Program: confidential and independent counselling for employees and their families
• Strong commitment to learning and development
• Paid Parental and Partner Leave
• Free annual flu vaccination for staff
• Leave loading and salary packaging opportunities
• Access to Fitness Passport: a workplace health and fitness program that give you and your family access to a wide choice of gyms and pools across South Australia.