The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) has launched a strategy to guide the attraction, retention and development of the State’s child protection workforce.
Secretary of the DFFH, Sandy Pitcher said the Child Protection Workforce Strategy 2021-2024 outlined the Department’s strategic priorities for building an agile and contemporary workforce over the next three years.
“The Strategy will deliver new initiatives and actions including pioneering a learning centre for child protection practitioners, expanding our greatly successful psychological and wellbeing supports program and providing additional relocation support for hard-to-recruit areas,” Ms Pitcher said.
“Aboriginal people are best placed to understand the needs of Aboriginal children and their families, which is why we will also be partnering with Aboriginal-led recruitment agencies to recruit more Aboriginal staff to join our Department and help keep children connected to culture, community and Country,” she said.
Ms Pitcher said that throughout the development of the Strategy, DFFH had kept staff “front and centre” and was prioritising worker safety.
“We understand that to make a true difference to vulnerable children, young people and families in our community, we need staff who adopt best practice, are agile and highly skilled in what they do,” she said.
“Most importantly, we want our staff to feel supported, safe and fulfilled and make the Department the quintessential place to work for those that want to pursue a meaningful career in child protection – I truly believe this Strategy will help deliver this outcome.”
Ms Pitcher said the Strategy was created with input from practitioners and industry experts and built on the learnings of the Child Protection Workforce Strategy 2017–2020.
The DFFH’s 44-page Strategy can be accessed at this PS News link.
