Former Child in Care (CIC) Internship

Please note: This job is not with the Seabird Island Band, it is with the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

Five Positions Available

Full-time 24 weeks beginning September 2012

  Locations: Vancouver Island (Nanaimo); Coast Fraser (Vancouver); North (Prince George); Interior (Kelowna); Provincial Office (Victoria)

Salary: $1,564.12 bi-weekly

A unique and challenging opportunity to apply your skills and passion to support and achieve better outcomes for children and youth in care.

The Former CIC Internship Program offers a unique and innovative six month internship that is open and committed to help strengthen the outcomes for children in care. Successful candidates will have been former children or youth in care of the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Work terms will be for six months in one of five locations within the Ministry. You will learn many aspects of the ministry and its processes; you will support the development of staff expertise and competencies through sharing your experiences as a child or youth in care while also developing your leadership and professional skills to create a path for your future education and career development.

The ministry has five placements available across the Province; Nanaimo, Vancouver, Prince George, Kelowna and Victoria.  Some of the projects you may be working on include:

Nanaimo: Support non-Aboriginal foster caregivers through the development of a culturally competent and culturally safe training model.

Vancouver: Developing and conducting a range of youth engagement initiatives as part of  service quality improvement such as youth survey for the Complaints Process , conducting youth interviews related to improving services, delivering child rights workshops to ministry staff and youth and involvement in the implementation of the Youth Engagement Tool-Kit. 

Prince George: Residential care  redesign through conducting and evaluating focus groups with youth in care, former youth in care and assisting with project management and the evaluation process.

Kelowna: Permanency planning for children and youth in the care of MCFD. Working with Social

Workers and Team Leaders to inventory what is being done now and to develop plans to increase utilization and numbers of children and youth with Permanency Plans.

Victoria: Review and revise policy framework for Adoption Services based on clarifying policy, service standards and procedures, and practice guidelines. Also, in collaboration with the adoption community stakeholders, begin an adoption recruitment and promotion initiative to increase the number of children in care who are adopted and develop supports for adoptive families.

QUALIFICATIONS

The applicant must be a former child or youth who was previously in care in British Columbia.

EDUCATION

Recent graduate (within 12 months) with a university degree, a college diploma or certificate, or currently involved in a degree/diploma/certificate program in the human services field. 

SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Ability to communicate both orally and in writing,
• Ability to undertake research and analysis, develop recommendations and write reports,
• Ability to exercise judgment and sensitivity in complex and politically sensitive issues,
• Ability to maintain confidentiality requirements,
• Willingness to learn about the organization’s processes and policies that are unfamiliar,
• Ability to organize and facilitate forums/focus groups to speck with CICs, and internal and external stakeholders

KEY COMPETENCIES

Building Partnerships with Stakeholders with others who have a common goal is an important ability to build long-term or on-going relationships with stakeholders. This type of relationship is often quite deliberate and is typically focused on the way the relationship is conducted. Implicit in this competency is demonstrating a respect for the stakeholder.

Teamwork and Co-operation is best exemplified through effect collaboration with many different work groups, teams across the organization to achieve group and organizational goals. This includes communicating effectively.

Improving Operations is the ability and motivation to apply one’s knowledge and past experience for improving upon current modes of operation within the Ministry. This behaviour ranges from adapting widely used approaches to developing entirely new value-added solutions.

Analytical Thinking is the ability to comprehend a situation by breaking it down into its components and identifying key or underlying complex issues. It implies the ability to systematically organize and compare the various aspects of a problem or situation, and determine cause-and-effect relationships ("if...then…") to resolve problems in a sound, decisive manner and to ensure the validity or accuracy of all information.

Flexibility is the ability and willingness to adapt to and work effectively within a variety of diverse situations, and with diverse individuals or groups. Flexibility entails understanding and appreciating different and opposing perspectives on an issue, adapting one's approach as situations change and accepting changes within one's own job or organization.

*Successful applicants must consent to a criminal record review and police record check.

*A valid BC driver’s license is required as travel is a requirement of the position.

To apply, please identify in your cover letter:
-Why you are interested in participating in the program; and
-How you meet the qualifications.

Submit your resume and cover letter to: mcf.formerCIC.intern@gov.bc.ca.  In the subject line, please indicate your location of choice. Closing date for applications will be June 18, 2012. Applications must be received no later than 4:30pm on the closing date to be considered.

For further information regarding this internship, please email mcf.formerCIC.intern@gov.bc.ca