The Project Officers – Family Preservation and Child Protection Branch roles at the Department of Communities and Justice support a major redesign of family preservation services across NSW. Multiple temporary full-time positions are available across program design and continuous improvement, implementation support, and program management and communications. The shared purpose is to help services keep children safe at home and prevent entry into Out of Home Care.
This guide explains how to apply for Project Officers – Family Preservation and Child Protection Branch and plan the required three-page cover letter. The letter needs to outline how you meet the role requirements and answer two targeted questions, while the resume can be up to five pages. View the official job ad.
The targeted questions focus on purposeful partnerships and adapting during project delivery. Choose examples with enough complexity to show your judgement and enough detail to establish the part you played. Strong responses will also connect naturally with the branch’s work across co-design, service implementation, governance, reporting and stakeholder coordination.
This is a targeted recruitment in which all applicants are welcome and preference is given to candidates who meet the role standards and are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent. NSW Government panels also assess compliance with document limits and the quality of evidence, so your cover letter needs a deliberate structure that gives each question a complete response.
In This Guide
- Role snapshot
- NSW Government application requirements
- Application requirements for Project Officers – Family Preservation and Child Protection Branch
- Candidate evidence to include
- Example cover letter structure
- What the panel will want to see
- Before you submit
- Application help
Project Officers – Family Preservation and Child Protection Branch Role Snapshot
| Role title | Project Officers – Family Preservation and Child Protection Branch |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Department of Communities and Justice |
| Location | Parramatta, with flexible working arrangements available by negotiation |
| Job reference | 84850-44385703 |
| Work type | Multiple temporary full-time roles, 35 hours per week, for up to 12 months with possible extension to a maximum of 4 years |
| Grade | Clerk Grade 7/8 |
| Salary | $116,981 to $129,492 per annum, plus superannuation |
| Closing date | Tuesday 1 September 2026 at 11:59pm AEST |
| Official job ad | View the official job ad |
NSW Government Application Requirements
Application requirements are part of the assessment. The panel needs the requested documents within their maximum lengths, and both targeted questions need a complete response. Plan the three pages before drafting so the role-fit summary and two examples each receive enough space.
Application Requirements For Project Officers – Family Preservation and Child Protection Branch
- Up-to-date resume, maximum 5 pages
- Cover letter outlining how you meet the role requirements and answering 2 targeted questions, maximum 3 pages
Targeted Questions
- Provide an example of when you developed and maintained purposeful partnerships with a variety of stakeholders to achieve a shared goal. Describe the strategies and skills used to build relationships, establish shared goals to deliver projects on time.
- Provide an example of when you were involved in a project where you had to adapt to changing circumstances or unexpected challenges? What actions did you take to effectively meet project goals?
Use one developed example for each question. Set the context briefly, identify your responsibility and spend most of the response on the actions you took, the reasoning behind them and the result. The rest of the cover letter should provide a concise fit statement that connects your background with the relevant branch function.
Essential Role Requirements
The successful applicant needs Working with Children Check clearance under the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012. Keep the clearance details accurate and ready to provide through the recruitment process.
Targeted Recruitment Context
All applicants are welcome. Preference is given to candidates who meet the established role standards and are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent, recognising the value of lived experience in work with Aboriginal children, young people, families and communities.
NSW Government Candidate Requirements
The evidence priorities cover program implementation, stakeholder work, project coordination, analysis and communication. Your examples should also reflect the needs of the function you are most interested in, whether that is design and continuous improvement, implementation support, or program management and communications.
Candidate Requirements For Project Officers – Family Preservation and Child Protection Branch At DCJ
| Evidence area | How to demonstrate it |
|---|---|
| Implementing initiatives with government and non-government organisations | Describe a service, policy or program initiative you helped put into practice. Explain how you worked across organisational boundaries, clarified responsibilities and supported delivery. |
| Independent work and stakeholder relationships | Show how you managed your own responsibilities while maintaining productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Include the communication, follow-up and judgement that kept people aligned. |
| Project management | Use evidence of planning, milestones, progress tracking, risks, issues or governance. State what you personally coordinated and how the work stayed connected with the intended outcome. |
| Computer and systems competency | Name the systems or tools that supported project records, reporting, analysis, meetings or stakeholder coordination. Explain how your use of them improved accuracy, visibility or follow-through. |
| Written and verbal communication | Include papers, reports, briefings, training, walkthroughs or stakeholder discussions that helped people understand a change and act. Identify the audience and the response your communication enabled. |
| Attention to detail and problem-solving | Describe an operational, delivery or coordination issue you recognised and resolved. Show how you checked the details, assessed options and protected the broader project objective. |
| Research and analysis | Explain how you used data, reports or evaluation findings to support a decision, refinement or recommendation. Connect the analysis with the practical effect on program design or implementation. |
| Child protection experience or interest | Connect your background with safe, responsive services for children and families. Use relevant policy, program, service-delivery or community experience and explain why the Family Preservation work matters to you. |
| Function-specific experience | For program design and continuous improvement, include work with Aboriginal stakeholders where available. For program management and communications, include governance experience. Implementation-support applicants can emphasise training, local engagement and practical problem-solving with service providers. |
Example Application Structure For Project Officers – Family Preservation and Child Protection Branch
The application requires a resume and a cover letter that outlines your suitability and answers two targeted questions. Keep the cover letter to a maximum of three pages and the resume to a maximum of five pages. The table below shows how to fit role evidence and both targeted responses into the cover letter.
| Cover letter section | What to include |
|---|---|
| Opening paragraph | State your interest in the Project Officer roles and identify the branch function that best matches your background. Summarise your relevant project, service-implementation, stakeholder and child protection experience. |
| Provide an example of when you developed and maintained purposeful partnerships with a variety of stakeholders to achieve a shared goal. Describe the strategies and skills used to build relationships, establish shared goals to deliver projects on time. | Use one project with several stakeholders whose contribution mattered. Explain how you understood their interests, established the shared goal, built trust, handled differences, agreed responsibilities and kept delivery on schedule. Finish with the result and the strength or durability of the partnership. |
| Provide an example of when you were involved in a project where you had to adapt to changing circumstances or unexpected challenges? What actions did you take to effectively meet project goals? | Choose a change or challenge that required a meaningful adjustment. Describe how you assessed the effect, reset priorities or plans, communicated with others, managed risks and tracked the revised approach. Finish with the project result and any lesson applied to later work. |
| Working with Children Check clearance | Confirm that you meet the clearance requirement in a concise statement where appropriate. |
| Closing paragraph | Reinforce your fit with the relevant Family Preservation function and your commitment to culturally safe, responsive services that help keep children safe at home. |
What The Panel Will Want To See In Your Examples
- A clearly defined shared goal and the range of stakeholders involved.
- The relationship-building strategies you personally used and why they suited the people or setting.
- A real change or unexpected challenge that affected the delivery plan.
- Your judgement in adjusting priorities, actions, risks or communication.
- A result connected with project timing, service implementation, stakeholder commitment or program quality.
- Evidence that respects the family preservation context and the importance of culturally safe, community-led work.
Before You Submit
- Keep the cover letter within three pages and the resume within five pages.
- Use the exact targeted-question wording as the heading for each response while drafting.
- Give each targeted response a complete example with context, actions and result.
- Connect your opening and closing with the branch function that best matches your experience.
- Confirm your Working with Children Check information is accurate.
- Review the official listing one final time before uploading the three-page cover letter and five-page resume.
Help With Your Project Officers – Family Preservation and Child Protection Branch Application
Team 3Thirty’s free NSW cover letter template can help you plan the opening, evidence and closing around the two targeted responses. If you want support selecting examples and editing the full three-page letter, request professional application help.
Return to the official job ad before submitting to confirm the closing time and application portal requirements.