by Emma Ballingall

Warragul child protection officers have joined a recruitment drive calling on new graduates and career changers to consider joining their ranks.

Victoria Hingston and Kylie Hodges of the Warragul office urged those who love a challenging, fast-paced and rewarding work environment to step up to help keep Gippsland children safe.

Victoria and Kylie have become close friends since joining child protection on student placements 20 and 16 years ago respectively.  Both mums, they love the flexibility and opportunities that come with their roles.

Whilst studying to become a teacher, Kylie said a student placement in child protection opened her eyes to a career she’d never considered.

“I loved it, so I never left,” she said.

“You are always learning things.  Every day is different.  There’s a lot of career opportunities.”

First trained by Victoria, Kylie has worked in many roles over the past 16 years including case management, response and sexual abuse and is now currently a part-time navigator practice leader.

A student placement in 2001 saw Victoria, who wanted to be a writer, sign up.

She recalls being told child protection would be really tough but loved the challenge so much “that I never left”.

“It’s a really challenging job but really rewarding.”

Victoria has worked in investigations, case management, intake and after-hours, as well as family-led decision making convener, unit manager and advanced protective worker.  She is currently a practice leader in case planning.

“I love engaging families and helping families, empowering them to come up with the best plans for their children possible,” Victoria says.

For Kylie, working with adolescents is her favourite part of the role.

“It’s really rewarding when you see them be able to make changes for themselves,” she said.

Both in Inner Gippsland, the main hub is in Morwell with smaller offices in Warragul and Leongatha.  It serves the Baw Baw, Latrobe City, Bass Coast and South Gippsland regions.

However, the pair has also had opportunities to travel across Australia to locate and reunite families.

Victoria and Kylie say training and support is readily and freely available for child protection workers, with free TAFE diploma courses currently offering the opportunity to jump straight into the workforce as a case support worker.

The new recruitment drive aims to attract more than 280 new child protection practitioners across metropolitan and regional Victoria, with Inner Gippsland identified as a priority area.

To learn more about available child protection jobs, visit vic.gov.au/childprotectionjobs.