Being a social worker at Child, Youth and Family
Our social work practice is world-leading, with other countries adopting our model of working with families and whānau. We aim to lead the way in innovative social work and international best practice.
We believe in what we do and we work in a supportive environment, which encourages personal and professional growth. Our social workers are always learning new things – no two days are the same. We’ll train you in a wide variety of subjects and we’ll help you make the most of your experiences.
We recognise that social work can be demanding, and we want you to feel appreciated for it. That’s why we offer an extra week of annual leave on top of special pay for those on after-hours and weekend duties.
"We wouldn't be in this business if we didn't believe we could make a difference." Ray Smith, Deputy Chief Executive
We have a huge variety of social work roles
If you’re interested in a varied and rewarding career in social work, you’ll find a role to suit you at Child, Youth and Family.
We offer the most diverse social work roles in New Zealand:
- Care and protection social workers work with families to help them to find their own solutions, so they can keep their children safe and well cared for. This may mean working with children in their family or with caregivers.
- Youth justice social workers help young people to take responsibility for their behaviour and offending, and to put things right. The young person’s well-being is also actively promoted, so they can be strong with a positive future.
- Caregiver social workers work with the community to recruit, assess and train potential caregivers for children and young people who are not able to live at home. They also provide ongoing support to caregivers.
- Adoptions social workers work with both mothers who are considering placing their child for adoption, and those hoping to adopt a child. They offer support throughout the process, which continues after the adoption.
- Residential social workers provide care for vulnerable children and young people staying in a residence because they can’t be in the community, for their own safety or the safety of others. This involves meeting their day-to-day care needs as well as ensuring the young people we interact with are engaged in education, training or work.
- Care and protection FGC coordinators organise and run family group conferences where family and whānau come together to discuss what can be done to make sure a child or young person is safe and well cared for.
- Youth justice FGC coordinators organise and run family group conferences where the family and whānau, the young offender, and the victim come together. They help decide how the young person can face up to what they did wrong, make amends and turn their life around.
- Supervisors manage a team of social workers, providing them with professional supervision, guidance and ongoing development and learning opportunities.
