Group:
Reporting to / Children’s Workforce Director
Location: / Various
Issue Date: / June 2017
Delegated Authority: / None
Staff Responsibility: / None
The Ministry / The Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki works to advance the wellbeing and positive long-term outcomes of children and young people. We support families and whānau to provide a safe, stable and loving home for their children. We protect children and young people who are not having their needs met at home and address the impact of any harm they have experienced. The Ministry prevents and responds to offending by young people and addresses the rights and interests of victims of offending. We support care-experienced young people to successfully transition to adulthood.
We develop strategic partnerships with others, particularly iwi and Māori organisations, to help realise this vision. We ensure a common approach with our partners to understanding the return on investment from our activities.
The Ministry’s core outcomes are:
-All children and young people are in loving families and communities where they can be safe, strong, connected, and able to flourish
-Improved outcomes for all children, especially Māori tamariki and Rangatahi
Our guiding principles / In everything we do, the wellbeing and best interests of children are paramount. The voices of children and young people underpin the design and operation of our services. We seek to strengthen the relationships between children and young people and their families, whānau, hapu and iwi, and we respect children’s sense of belonging and identity. We recognise the importance of whakapapa and whanaungatanga to the mana and wellbeing of tamariki Māori.
Purpose of role / Purpose of the Position
The Analyst supports the Children’s Action Plan by providing robust reporting and analysis on a range of business activities and processes to support and inform sound decision making. There are generic and specific responsibilities that will be assigned to incumbents based on their knowledge and skills. Responsibilities include:
Generic requirements
- reviewing, investigating or researching operational processes and practices (as directed) to determine if they are still current and appropriate, that outcomes are delivering the results and expected benefits, and making recommendations for improvement or change as appropriate
- providing advice on projects or initiatives that will impact the delivery of services, to ensure that operational implications and impacts have been identified and considered.
The Children’s Workforce Programme / Vision Statement:
A workforce with a culture of child protection that works together with family and whānau to ensure the safety and well-being of all children.
For services – both universal and intensive approaches like the Children’s Teams – to address the unmet needs of vulnerable children, the children’s workforce needs to:
-be committed to placing child protection at the centre of their role, and be capable of doing so effectively
-Have positive attitudes towards working together, and be using the tools needed to work together effectively (e.g., a common assessment framework, currently Tuituia)
-Be safe and appropriately regulated.
The Children’s Workforce Programme includes four projects to achieve these critical indicators workforce capability at both a national and regional level:
-Children’s Team Workforce Capability – working in partnership with local leaders and employers to help them understand what needs to change, mobilise expertise and resources, and create a cycle of continual workforce development to support the Children’s Teams.
-Core Competencies and National Workforce Development – developing a national framework for addressing the key capability gaps preventing the children’s workforce from effectively working together.
-Children’s Workforce Insights – establishing measurements and analysis of the attitudes and capabilities of the children’s workforce at both a regional and national level to support the programme.
-Implementing the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 – coordinating the implementation of the child protection and children’s workforce safety checking provisions in the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.
While the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 and Oranga Tamariki provide frameworks to support these changes, it cannot be the sole driver. The workforce – at every level from leadership and governance, to management to the frontline – needs to fundamentally change its mind-sets and ways of working.
Influencing this systemic, transformational change requires agencies to work together using the levers they have to influence practice within their sectors, coordinated by a central backbone of effective, high impact policies and processes.
While an immediate priority is meeting the needs of Children’s Teams sites as they grow to scale , the required approach to capability building is about more than delivering training – it involves the mobilisation and reprioritisation of local resources and expertise to create self-sustaining networks, communities of practice and a culture of continual improvement.
Key Accountabilities
Requests, correspondence and issues management / Provide support with responses to Official Information requests, Parliamentary Questions and the Select Committee questions, Ministerial correspondence, Ombudsman enquiries and Privacy Commissioner enquires.
Data Collection, Analysis and Interpretation / •Knows where and how to source data and information relevant to business queries, stores this in an easily accessible repository in a logical order and ensures that it is applied consistently to common queries
•Researches and analyses data and information and draws conclusions and views and can prepare commentary that supports an argument
•Undertakes reviews or investigations into business processes to determine if outcomes are as expected, or that Professional Development and Children’s Workforce is delivering the outcomes expected and presenting these findings to the leadership team with recommendations for improvement or change where necessary.
Reporting and Advice /
- Establishes and maintains up-to-date and easily accessible records of Professional Development and Children’s workforce activities, achievements and operational performance data, used for various internal and external reporting requirements, eg, Output Plan and Statement of Intent (SOI) reporting
- Analyses performance information and data and provides supporting commentary that identifies any issues and/or trends with makes recommendations to address these
- Prepares reports in a timely manner so these can be reviewed by business managers before publication and release, ensuring the consistent data has been used and that conclusions drawn are accurate
- Responds to government queries, eg, parliamentary or Select Committee questions, in a timely manner ensuring data is accurate and consistent with previous reporting
- Contributes to the development of business and performance measures, both internal and external, to ensure that measures are relative and provide an accurate view of performance.
Service Quality /
- Ensure Children’s Workforce quality sampling regime is embedded across Service Delivery, adhered to and that results are being reported
- Receives quality result, analysing the data and providing a report to Professional Development highlighting areas for concern with recommendations to ensure that results are being maintained or improving
- Liaises with business unit quality portfolio holders to ensure consistency and transparency of results across Professional Development
- Provides support and advice on quality resources and tools that business units can use to maximise performance and reporting
- Ensures quality documentation is up-to-date and readily available to management and staff
- Review and audit sampling processes from time-to-time
- Monitors, evaluates and drives continuous improvement to Children’s Action Plan processes and procedures to improve service quality, effectiveness and mitigate risk
- Undertakes quality indicator checking for Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and Output Plan reporting, and analysing and interpreting these to confirm if quality standards are being maintained and/or improved. Where these aren’t, making recommendations to address the issues identified.
Audit and Assurance /
- Maintains an overview and facilitates Children’s Workforce audit requirements and ensures that tasks are completed in a timely manner and any concerns are raised to Professional Development for consideration
- Oversees the administration of Professional Development assurance responsibilities.
Risk and Compliance /
- Ensures Children’s Action Plan’s risk register is maintained and reviewed by the various leadership teams to ensure risks are appropriate and can be controlled and/or influenced by Children’s Action Plan and that mitigations developed are workable and relevant
- As a result of business reviews, identifies matters that may cause concern or pose a risk and bring this to the attention of the Children’s Action Plan for consideration and escalation
- Ensures that Children’s Action Plan is adhering to and complies with the Ministry’s risk and compliance requirements and that reporting standards and requirements are met
- Maintains Children’s Action Plan Business Continuity Plan (BCP) ensuring this is regularly reviewed by CAP
Stakeholder and Relationship Management /
- Identifies, builds and maintains networks and effective working relationships with key external and internal stakeholders within Professional Development
- Promotes and represents Professional Development services professionally and credibly
- Has an in-depth knowledge of Oranga Tamariki business activities and processes and ensure that this knowledge is kept current and relevant by actively working within and across business units, so that they are able to represent Professional Development or provide comment and insight on likely impacts of change or initiatives.
Change and Project Management /
- Participates in projects across Professional Development as required
- Assesses the impact of proposed changes that affect the operations and delivery of services, contributing to the development implementation and changes plans
- Identifies potential issues and risks associated with change
- Encourages and supports operational teams through change processes.
Person Specification and competencies / Essential:
- Detailed knowledge of business performance reporting requirements
- Experience in report writing, plain English editing and proof-reading
- Proven experience in a government environment
- Experience in analysing and interpreting data, information and statistics to identify trends, impacts and linkages
- Computer literate, with competence in the use of the Microsoft Office Suite (essential)
- An appropriate relevant tertiary qualification or a high level of relevant equivalent experience
- Comprehensive knowledge of Oranga Tamariki and the wider government products, systems and services
- Experience overseeing and prioritising workflow in a busy operational environment
- A demonstrated knowledge and understanding of relevant legislation and policy that support business processes
- An understanding of the Ministry’s risk and audit requirements
- An awareness of our interdependent linkages with other internal and external agencies and our relationship to them
- Proven self-management and organisational skills
- Strong partnership and relationship builder
- Exercises sound judgement
- Highly effective communication skills
- Flexible, adaptable and realistic
- Strong client focus
- Works well under pressure
- Can arrange work demands to meet priorities
- Willing to travel to fulfil job requirements
- Holds current drivers licence and is prepared to drive the Ministry’s vehicles if required.
Key internal partners /
- Children’s Workforce Director
- Professional Development management and staff
- Staff within the Ministry for Vulnerable Children – Oranga Tamariki
Key external partners /
- Relevant sector stakeholders
- Other government departments and social sector agencies
- Other organisations/agencies/people as required
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Position:Workforce Lead: Children’s Team
Location:Various
Reporting to:Workforce Lead Manager
Issue Date:August 2016
Delegated Authority:None
Staff Responsibility:None
The Children’s Action Plan
Providing a better future for New Zealand’s vulnerable children is at the heart of the Children’s Action Plan.
The Children's Action Plan will transform the way each and every one of us – from the Beehive to the community, from parents, family/whānau, caregivers and communities to agencies and government departments – work together for the earlier identification, support and protection of vulnerable children.
Protecting children is everyone’s responsibility. The Children’s Action Plan helps communities to take the lead in identifying children at risk of abuse and neglect and to work together to help them.
The Children’s Action Plan represents a unique opportunity to work with others and make a significant difference to the lives of our most vulnerable children.
What is the Children’s Action Plan?
The Children’s Action Plan sets out a programme of action to change the way we work to protect vulnerable children by putting them at the centre of everything we do. The main goals are to:
Keep vulnerable children safe before they come to harm so they thrive, achieve and belong
Provide the best possible support services to children who have already been harmed and are in the care of Child, Youth and Family.
We will support Children’s Teams with:
The Hub – a triage point for referrals, calls, texts or emails about children who are, or are at risk of, being abused or neglected
A Vulnerable Kids Information System (ViKi) to support Children’s Teams and The Hub
A legal framework to support improved information sharing
A safe and competent children’s workforce, by requiring agencies to vet and screen staff and have child protection policies in place.
Position Description Approved By:
______National Children’s Director
Date: ……/……/……
Workforce
The Children’s Action Plan includes a range of initiatives to enhance the integrity of the children’s workforce, and to build its capacity and capability to work together to identify and respond to child vulnerability. These new expectations are central to the successful roll-out of the Children’s Teams.
Vision Statement: A workforce with a culture of child protection that works effectively together with family and whānau to ensure the safety and well-being of all children.
Future State Children’s Team Workforce:
Children’s Team sites have a local children’s workforce who are safe. Sites are proactive in driving expectations for a safe and competent workforce, across all sectors, in voluntary and paid work settings.
A culture of child protection is embedded within the children’s workforce at each site, supported by trans-disciplinary models of working and cross sector capability-building programmes.
The local children’s workforce works together across sectors, organisations and professions to provide cohesive and effective services to meet the needs of vulnerable children, family and whānau.
While the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 will provide a legislative framework to support this change process, it cannot be the sole driver. Instead, agencies will need to work together using the levers they have to influence practice within their sectors.
This attitudinal and behavioural change requires a coordinated approach that recognises the role that each agency, and the National Children’s Directorate, can play in influencing the workforce at each site, and ultimately outwards across whole sectors.
Such large-scale, system-wide change must occur on the ground, supported through the governance and accountability structures that regulate and guide the workforce.
The Children’s Teams
Children’s Teams are one part of the Government’s wider plan to support vulnerable children through the Children’s Action Plan.
A Children’s Team is a panel of skilled frontline practitioners and professionals from across government agencies, NGOs, Iwi and the community. The teams are trans-disciplinary and made up of people with diverse perspectives and experiences.
Children’s Teams are appointed by the community, so they respond to the needs of at-risk children and their families/whānau within the unique context of each area.
Children’s Teams will ensure:
Processes that are in place in the Children’s Team Directorate are supported to ensure vulnerable children are referred to the Children’s Team, and accepted into the care of the Team or referred to a more appropriate response as appropriate
Vulnerable children’s needs are assessed
Vulnerable children have a single plan covering all of their needs
The right services are delivered, the plan monitored and reviewed, and outcomes achieved.
Children’s Teams assign each child with a Lead Professional, and are responsible for approving, monitoring and reviewing the plan the Lead Professional develops with the team for each child.
Purpose of the Position
The purpose of the Workforce Lead: Children’s Team (Workforce Lead) is to establish partnerships with the members of the local children’s workforce community at each Children’s Team site to bring together the relationships, expertise, and resources needed to implement and sustain a safe and competent Children’s workforce in that community and to assist in building and maintaining a pool of available lead professionals and Children’s Action Network members to support the children’s team.
The children’s workforce community includes providers of children’s services, agency managers, local leaders, NGO’s and other stakeholders who have a role in planning, delivering and supporting services for children.
The Workforce Lead would work alongside these groups to drive the workforce vision and change, both across the community and out through their local sector networks. They would provide these groups with a comprehensive toolkit to support the growth of knowledge, understanding and implementation of the required change. This toolkit would consist of the national building blocks (including guidance products and policies) and workforce-specific tools and templates on each of the three core workforce programme domains: safety checking, child protection policies and core competencies.
It is intended that information and data are feed back into the national design processes for the workforce programme.
The Workforce Lead will work actively to support the Children’s Team Director to have a sufficient workforce ready to meet the requirements of the Children’s Team. The workforce Lead will have responsibility to build both the capacity and capability within the local community to support the operation of the children’s team approach and to meet the needs of vulnerable children.
The Workforce Workstream Lead reports to the Workforce Lead Manager (National Office). Travel will be required to fulfill the job requirements.
Key Accountabilities
Key Achievement Areas / Key deliverables/outcomes
Vision, Guidance and Leadership / Provide guidance and advice in vision and strategy to lead and drive changes to resource the Children’s Team and provide services for vulnerable / at risk children
Ensure that knowledge and evidence about what works for Māori is incorporated in the change approach and outcomes
Contribute to the further development of the service and resource change approach for CAP and Children’s Teams priorities to achieve desired outcomes
Ensure that strong conceptual design approach is taken to inform and convey required changes
Promote a culture of continuous improvement
Change Management & Leadership / Design, lead and drive the changes required to ensure the Children’s Team has safe and competent workforce,
Lead a change strategy for the sector in the location of the Children’s Team that requires gaining support and acceptance from agencies and many NGOs and other organisations to ensure the new change strategy is successful
Demonstrate ability to be powerful role model on change management and leadership to ensure the sector’s willingness to work in a new and different way
Promote strong stakeholder focus and ownership
Relationship Management / Engage key stakeholders in the Children’s Team community with the purpose of building and maintaining a pool of Lead Professionals and CAN membership to support the Children’s Teams
Take a partnership approach – deliberately including Māori and Pasifika in idea development and decision-making to ensure that cultural lens are cross-checked and balanced, actively encouraging and incorporating ideas that will benefit Māori and Pasifika
Develop positive relationships with representatives of government agencies, NGOs and other organisations involved with vulnerable / at risk children in the local community
Provide strong leadership and demonstrates effective interpersonal and communication skills to effectively manage key stakeholders
Work with the Children’s Team Director, Local Governance Group, DHB and Community Investment representatives, and with CAP Directorate, to support the service changes required to focus resources on the children being supported by the Children’s Team
Ability to influence, persuade, negotiate and mediate different agendas from stakeholders
Experience in delivery services to vulnerable children and families
To use relationships and influence to promote requirements of the Vulnerable Children’s Act with employers and managers to achieve a safe children’s workforce
Capability Building / To support Children’s Team Directors to have a sustainable learning and capability building programme to support the operation of the team
To support Lead Professionals and Children’s Action network members to develop their skills to deliver services to vulnerable children
Reporting, Analysis and Advice / Ensures timely and informative reporting and analysis on workforce development
Provides feedback on trends to workforce Programme Director and the Children’s Team Directors where required
Contributes to monitoring, analysis and reporting in relation to workforce capacity and capability, ensuring results are fed back to the appropriate stakeholders
Manages risk including identification, planning and mitigation, risk monitoring and reporting
Participates in National Office group discussions, committees and project teams to provide advice on workforce and practice issues and trends
Prepare ad-hoc analysis and reports on workforce and practice trends and issues/risks and recommend a course of action
Working Relationships