CSO roles

Welcome to a truly fulfilling career.

Child Safety Officers play a pivotal role in making an extraordinary difference in the lives of some of Queensland's most at-risk children and their families.

The role is statutory, which means it has responsibility under the Child Protection Act 1999 and it's all about responding to serious concerns regarding the welfare and safety of children.

Our Child Safety Officers collaborate in teams, often a mix of various disciplines, based in service centres that cover specific geographical areas. Plus, you'll have a seasoned Senior Team Leader in your corner, providing supervision, advice, and guidance to help you navigate the intricacies of day-to-day case work tasks and decisions.

Child Safety Officer roles and responsibilities

What exactly does a Child Safety Officer do?

Core responsibilities include conducting risk assessments and bringing together vulnerable children, young people, their families, carers, and other child and family support services to meet the requirements of the case plan. It's a role that demands both expertise and compassion to ensure the well-being of those who need it most.

These skills apply across all areas of the child protection continuum:

• Intake — responsibilities include receiving information about concerns for a child's safety and assessing the information to determine the right response.
• Investigation and assessment — responsibilities include investigating concerns received about harm or risk of harm to a child and determining whether the child is in need of protection.
• Intervention with parental agreement — responsibilities include working with parents where it's been assessed that their child is in need of protection, and the parents have agreed to work with our Child Safety Officers to make changes to meet the child's needs while the child remains at home. This includes developing and managing case plans with the family and making referrals to support services.
• Children under child protection orders — responsibilities include working with children under child protection orders who are living in foster and kinship care or residential care arrangements. This includes supporting children and their parents to meet case plan goals towards reunification or permanency outcomes.
• Placement services — responsibilities include providing statutory care placements for children who are unable to live with their own families. It includes working with child safety service centre teams and service providers to match children with suitable carers to meet the support and cultural needs of children.

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