The Child and Family Agency was established on 1^st January 2014 and is responsible for a range of statutory functions including provision of child protection, alternative care, specified regulatory services and a range of family support services.  The Agency has commenced a major improvement programme with significant focus on Practice, Culture and Structure. The Agency currently has responsibility for a budget of circa €1.2billion and delivers its services through over 5,500 people in 259 locations across the Country.

The Child and Family Agency has responsibility for the following range of services:

• Child Protection and Welfare
• Parenting, Family Support and Early Help Services
• Alternative Care
• Birth Information & Tracing and Adoption
• Tusla Education Support Services (TESS)
• Children’s Service Regulation
• Counselling and Therapeutic Supports

Further information is available on www.tusla.ie

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Birth Information and Tracing Act, 2022 (BIT) – Regional Operations

• Receives and process requests from the National Adoption Contact Centre in accordance with the Birth Information and Tracing Act, 2022 and in line with the BIT Standard Operating Procedures.
• Has delegated responsibility for the approval and sign-off on the release of birth and identity information to applicants in accordance with the BIT legislation.
• Acts as the designated point of contact for information queries within the Region, advising staff on best practice in accordance with the BIT legislation and National approach to practice.
• Reports to the National ABIT Data Protection & Information Manager on issues arising in the Region on the implementation of the Standard Operating Procedures.
• Line management responsibilities of the BIT Intake Officer.
• Responsibility for the implementation and operation of the Tusla Case Management System and other ICT platforms utilised by the Adoption Services across the Region.
• Ensures Regional implementation and audit of the BIT Standard Operating Policies and Procedures and other Agency Policies and Procedures in line with the expectations of the National Manager for Adoption Services and Quality Assurance Directorate.
• Management of, and responsibility for, overseeing the cataloguing, indexing and centralization of adoption records within the Region.
• Contributes to the service-wide effort on the preservation and appropriate maintenance of archival records.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Proactively engage with the Adoption Authority of Ireland, other stakeholders, and allied Tusla Directorates and services.
• Attend and participate in all learning exchange and training events.
• Act as the designated point of contact in the Region for data search and records retrieval in response to queries from the National Adoption Contact and Support Centre or other local area offices.

Team Effectiveness

• Identify and deliver training needs as required for the Region in accord with the suite of training developed and approved by the Tusla/AAI.
• Support effective reporting on BIT metrics, including processing activities in accordance with the BIT SOP and case activity.
• Lead efforts to maintain up-to-date and accurate local data inventories and databases.

Health & Safety

• Comply with and contribute to the development of policies, procedures, guidelines and safe professional practice and adhere to relevant legislation, regulations and standards.

• Have a working knowledge of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) Standards as they apply to the service for example National Standards for Child Protection and Care and comply with associated Tusla – Child and Family Agency protocols for implementing and maintaining these standards as appropriate to the role.
• To support, promote and actively participate in sustainable energy, water and waste initiatives to create a more sustainable, low carbon and efficient health service.

The above Job Description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to him/her from time to time and to contribute to the development of the post while in office. 

Applicants must by the closing date of application have the following:

• Have at least two years’ administrative experience as relevant to the role.
• Demonstrate experience of co-ordinating management information and systems analysis.
• Demonstrate experience processing applications in accordance with the Birth Information and Tracing Act, 2022.
• Demonstrate experience of processing information requests such as Subject Access Requests (SARs) and/or Freedom of Information (FOI) requests in an organisational setting that processes large volumes of sensitive personal data.
• Demonstrate excellent MS Office skills to include Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the work of Tusla, Child & Family Agency/Adoption Authority of Ireland and the Adoption Information and Tracing activities carried out.

Health

A candidate for and any person holding the office must be fully competent and capable of undertaking the duties attached to the office and be in a state of health such as would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service.

Character

Each candidate for and any person holding the office must be of good character.