About child protection
Child protection practitioners work for the Victorian Government to investigate the safety and wellbeing of children at risk. As essential frontline workers they receive and assess reports of alleged child abuse and neglect from the community.
For more information about child protection, please visit the child protection jobs website.
Working in child protection
Child protection practitioners have a specific statutory role which includes:
- providing advice and consultation to people who report concerns about children and young people
- assessing children and families where it is believed a child is at risk of significant harm
- making applications to, and attending, the Melbourne Children’s Court
- engaging and working with children and families to promote safety, stability and development of the child and to strengthen family capacity.
Working in child protection means:
- Generous leave provisions on top of the standard VPS entitlements.
- Child protection staff receive extended leave provisions of up to 38 hours per year paid professional development leave and an extra 5 days of additional leave after 12 months of service. Some leave will be pro-rata based on part time hours.
- Employees working in child protection have access to the Child Protection Wellbeing Program (CPWP) and the Child Protection Health Program (CPHP).
- These programs support the wellbeing of child protection staff by providing access to confidential individual counselling of up to 6 funded face to face counselling sessions per issue, per year, along with free confidential advice and referrals to accredited health providers. This is in addition to the Employee Wellbeing and Support Program available to all department staff.
- Child Protection Practice Induction Program (PIP):
- This is a specific mandatory induction program for all new child protection practitioners, delivered over a 5-week period, full-time, to equip new practitioners with the necessary practice knowledge and skills to commence their careers in child protection.
You can find out more about ongoing development opportunities and access to wellbeing programs on the child protection jobs - supporting our workforce page.
You can find out more about the benefits of working for the department on the why work for us page.
What are the requirements?
To work in child protection, candidates are required to:
- complete a National Crime Check
- hold or obtain a Victorian Employee Working with Children Check (WWCC)
- hold a valid driver’s licence
- hold the minimum relevant diploma level qualifications.
Read further information about the requirements and eligibility on the child protection jobs website.
Apply now
Apply for available roles in child protection via the Careers Vic website.