Association for Children with a Disability (ACD)
POSITION DESCRIPTION
POSITION TITLE:ACD Intake and Support Worker (0.8 EFT)
REPORTS TO: Manager, ACD Support
LOCATION:Surrey Hills
January 2018
INTRODUCTION
The Association for Children with a Disability (ACD) exists to assist families of children with a disability through the provision of information, support and advocacy
We aim to:
•Empower parents of children with a disability to be as self-sufficient as possible in advocating on behalf of their child and family.
•Promote and advance the rights of children with a disability and their families.
•Advocate on behalf of children with a disability and their families to ensure the best possible support and services are available.
•Work collaboratively with other organisations to improve the service system for children with a disability and their families.
Our services include:
•Information resources for families: In addition to our NoticeBoard magazine and the links and information on our website, we publish a range of information resources for families.
•ACD Support: Our ACD Support Workers provide a free telephone support service to assist families with information and support about any disability issue.
•ACD Educate: ACD provides evidence based and family friendly workshops to build parent capacity and understanding, and enable them to work towards achieving the best outcomes for their child across a range of settings including school, home, disability services, and the NDIS. We also work with professionals and the general community to build their understanding of disability from a family perspective
•ACD Influence: We actively advocate for improvements to government policies that affect families of children with a disability. We also work to raise community awareness about disability issues through the media and community networks.
Our work is guided by our Strategic Plan (
ABOUT THE POSITION
The ACD Intake Worker will be their first point of contact with the ACD Support team. It is an opportunity to provide a consistent, friendly and sensitive response to initial enquiries over both telephone and email, providing basic and foundational information to ensure that ACD is the best organization to assist, identifying the presenting issue and helping to put families at ease.
The role will work in close collaboration with the rest of the ACD Support team, and provide clear, accurate information to ACD Support workers so that they can respond to callers in a timely and professional manner, avoiding the need for families to repeat their stories, and deliver our services with the highest levels of effectiveness and efficiency.
Within the ACD Support Worker role you will work closely with your colleagues in both the ACD Support team and ACD Educate teams. You will provide professional, accurate and timely information and support to families, present in introductory talks to groups of parents as well as contribute to systemic change for all families of children with disabilities.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Being a consistent and welcoming first point of contact for families and individuals calling to receive support from ACD.
Provide initial information and screening to callers to identify the current issue and ensure that ACD is able to provide them with the best support.
Collect preliminary data and information about the family and the issues they are presenting with so as to equip an ACD Support Worker to return their call and be fully informed so as to assist with their enquiry.
OBJECTIVES
- Respond to calls and emails to ACD Support.
- Provide a sensitive and empathetic response to callers to ACD Support.
- Provide preliminary screening for callers based on the caller’s demographic, needs, and ACD’s scope of services and capability.
- Provide basic triage of callers.
- Make referrals to other services with consent from the family and when it is assessed that this is in the family’s interest to do so.
- Provide basic information about ACD, mandatory, and other necessary information to relevant callers, including information around privacy and complaints handling.
- Collect information from callers or email contacts in relation to their demographic details, the presenting issue, and other relevant information, in line with relevant legislation and program guidelines.
- Input of information into ACD’s Support systems.
- Referral of caller and information to an ACD Support Worker.
- Maintenance and updates of ACD Support’s information systems and client history files.
- Attend ACD Support team meetings, supervision and other duties as directed by the Manager.
- Work together with the ACD Support team to staff the ACD Support roster and respond to telephone requests from parents/families/carers for information and advocacy assistance.
Support families to identify strategies to deal with a range of disability related issues.
Empower parents and family members to initiate the action required.
Work together with the ACD Support team and other staff to keep the core information resources we use for support work up to date.
In situations where it is assessed that an issue cannot be resolved without a ACD Support Worker’s attendance, act as an advocate by attending meetings with families.
Respond to requests from service providers for information to assist families they are working with.
KEY SKILLS (MANDATORY)
- Excellent communication skills, including face to face, telephone, and written abilities.
- Well-developed interpersonal communication skills and professional qualities and attributes including empathy, non-judgment, discretion, and an awareness of professional boundaries in responding to client inquiries and access to services.
- Ability to develop and maintain respectful and positive relationships with people from diverse backgrounds.
- Sufficient IT skills to complete all computer related work including proficiency in use Microsoft Office suite and the Internet for searching for information.
- Proven initiative in working independently and within a small team, including negotiating and problem solving skills.
- Excellent organisational and time management skills including the ability to prioritize and manage multiple and competing work tasks and deliver to agreed deadlines.
- Experience in the evaluation and development of program models and systems, including policies, processes, tools and information systems.
- A demonstrated personal value set that is aligned with ACD’s mission, vision and values.
OTHER SKILL AREAS (DESIRABLE)
- Relevant tertiary qualification in social work, disability, child and family social welfare or related discipline.
- An understanding of issues for families with a child or children with a disability, including knowledge of the disability service system for families.
- Experience in use of Salesforce CRM.
FAMILY EXPERIENCES OF DISABILITY
The strength ofACD is the passion and energy of parents of children with a disability. Other family members, including grandparents and siblings, are also major contributors to our family perspective on disability.
Many of our staff members are parents or siblings or have other family connections with disability. Applicants are encouraged to include details of any family experiences of disability. This experience is highly valued by our organisation.
HOURS OF WORK
The position is 4 days a week with days of the week negotiable with the successful applicant.
SALARY AND CONDITIONS
ACD is an independent not-for-profit community organisation, funded by a combination of recurrent and non-recurrent government and philanthropic arrangements. Remuneration is subject to negotiation and will be based on qualifications and experience. We offer salary packaging arranged through SALPAC
This position is for 12 months (with an initial 3 month probation period), with potential for ongoing.
The successful candidate will need to have or undergo both Police and Working with Children’s checks.
ACCOUNTABILITY
ACD’s Committee of Management is ultimately responsible for the employment of all staff. Under current arrangements, this position is responsible to and takes direction from the Manager, ACD Support.
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