At the Department of Justice and Community Safety, we’re looking for people who want to make a difference. People who take pride in their work. People who get things done. People who are committed to making Victoria a safer place.
We embrace diversity and strive to have a workforce that reflects the community we serve. We’re all about recruiting the best people, regardless of gender, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or cultural background. If you think you can do the job and would be a good fit for our department, we’d love to hear from you.
The department is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children and recognises that children’s rights need to be respected, their views welcomed and valued, and their concerns taken seriously and acted upon.
If you require adjustments to the recruitment and selection process, or require an alternative format to any of the application material, please don't hesitate to get in touch with the contact person listed on this ad.
For more information on working with us and our recruitment process, please visit justice.vic.gov.au/careers
We’re proud of the important work we do across Victoria. Want to be part of it?
- Seeking proven resilient public sector leadership experience gained in a complex environment.
- Collaborate across the youth justice portfolio to drive safe, rehabilitative, and positive outcomes for children and young people
- Senior Executive appointment (SES1 $232,790 - $298,488 total renumeration).
The Department of Justice and Community Safety (the department) is seeking a Director, Youth Justice Community across the North-West Region to provide executive leadership for Youth Justice Community Operations and Practice portfolio.
About the Business Unit
Youth Justice is responsible for supporting and supervising children and young people involved in Victoria's criminal justice system, both in the community and in youth justice custodial centers. Through supervision, case management, offence-related programs and links to appropriate support services, Youth Justice promotes opportunities for rehabilitation and contributes to reducing offending.
Youth Justice Community Operations and Practice provides programs and resources to help young people to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes to manage their lives effectively without further offending. Through supervision, case management, offence-related programs and links to appropriate support services, Youth Justice promotes opportunities for rehabilitation and contributes to reducing offending. To achieve this, the Community Operations and Practice team also works in close collaboration with other justice sector stakeholders across DJCS, Victoria Police, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH), Department of Health (DH), Department of Education (DE) and community service providers.
Reporting to the Executive Director, Community Operations and Practice, the Director, YJ Community provides leadership, oversight, specialist and authoritative advice for the development of state-wide community-based youth justice services.
About the Role
Working closely with executives and teams across Youth Justice, the Director will possess specialist child and adolescent skills and experience to lead operational oversight in a high-risk statutory program, the provision of specialist technical knowledge of children and adolescent pedagogical approaches is critical and essential as is the continuous practice improvement and development across diversionary and statutory youth justice services
Some of your duties will include:
- Provide oversight, stewardship and leadership to deliver effective, contemporary and evidence-based community youth justice services, including:
- the Children's Court Youth Diversion Service (CCYD)
- the Youth Justice Court Advice Service, Youth Justice Bail Afterhours Service (YJBAS) and, the Enhanced Bail Supervision and Support Service (EBSS)
- community youth justice supervision.
- Providing expert advice and preparing high level briefings on community operations to the Youth Justice Deputy Secretary and relevant executives.
- Provide leadership, coaching and professional guidance to General Managers, both individually and as state-wide leadership groups.
- Develop and lead effective governance arrangements and practice development activities to support continual practice improvement, including:
- Guiding statewide community practice development, quality and consistency to enhance rehabilitation and diversion outcomes for children and young people.
- Overseeing quality assurance and case audit processes, using data to drive practice development across community youth justice.
- Developing, implementing and leading a performance reporting, monitoring and improvement system
for community youth justice; Developing, implementing and leading an annual work planning approach for community youth justice, with a focus on continuous practice improvement.
- Provide strategic oversight of professional development, including leadership development, for statewide community youth justice services.
- With a focus on community youth justice, support implementation of the Youth Justice Act, and ongoing implementation of the Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2020-2030 & Wirkara Kulpa 2022-32
- Provide authoritative advice, analysis and subject matter expertise to influence policy development relating to the administration, integrity and quality of community youth justice services
- Working with Youth Justice custodial services, statewide rehabilitation services and central teams, ensure that community youth justice operations are integrated, evidence-based and aligned to contemporary research and models of best practice.
- Ensure that community youth justice practices meet the unique needs of vulnerable children and young people, and those from multicultural, multifaith, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.
To learn more about this role before applying, please read the attached position description.
About you
This is a stewardship role that requires decisiveness, high levels of expertise and requires building credibility through positive influence and a collaborative joint problem-solving approach.
To be successful in this role, you will have:
- Extensive experience in leading community youth justice services, or another related field, at a senior or executive level.
- Relevant qualifications and experience in Child and Adolescence practice or clinical disciplines.
- Extensive experience in the provision of high-level strategic and technical and clinical advice.
- Significant record of achievement in the development of system enablers to support complex high risk service delivery.
- Significant experience in design and delivery of reform programs.
- Significant experience in the leadership, management, supervision and development of staff to drive high performing teams in specialist areas.
- Significant experience in managing high risk service delivery and a strong understanding of the statutory responsibilities associated with the youth justice system
Qualifications/ Requirements
- A tertiary, ideally post-graduate, qualification in social work, psychology, criminal justice or public administration is required.
- Relevant qualifications and experience in Child and Adolescence practice or clinical disciplines.
- A current Employee Working with Children Check (WWCC) card is required and will need to be provided prior to commencement of employment by the applicant. Currency is required to be maintained by the employee for the period of employment.
How to Apply
Please click the Apply button on this advertisement. Applications should include a resume and covering letter. Attachments can be uploaded in .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt or .rtf formats.
The successful candidate will be required to undergo pre-employment checks which may include national police checks and misconduct screening.
If you require adjustments to the recruitment and selection process, or require an alternative format to any of the application material, please don't hesitate to get in touch with the contact person listed on this ad.
If you have any questions relating to this process, please reach out to [email protected]
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
The successful candidate may be required to undergo pre-employment checks which may include a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check (NCCHC) and misconduct screening.
If you require adjustments to the recruitment and selection process, or require an alternative format to any of the application material, please don't hesitate to get in touch with the contact person listed on this ad.
Child Safe Statement of Commitment
The Department of Justice and Community Safety is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. We seek to prevent harm of any kind impacting children and young people and have zero tolerance for racism, child abuse and inequality. Children and young people's rights, relationships, identity, and culture must be recognised and respected, their voices heard, and their concerns acted upon. We aim to foster a culturally safe, child safe and child friendly environment for all children and young people we have contact with, deliver services to, or are impacted by our work.