Why work at Barnardos?
Are you a purpose driven individual who is passionate about making a difference and helping some of society’s most vulnerable children? At Barnardos, we pride ourselves on delivering impactful services that make a difference to the lives of children and families across Ireland.
We believe that childhood lasts a lifetime. As trauma informed specialists our core purpose is to provide the necessary support for children to overcome childhood adversity, embedding a trauma informed ethos and practice into every service we provide.
What we can offer you?
As a Child & Youth Participation Project Worker we appreciate the value of your time when providing essential support to our services, that’s why we have the necessary support structures and network in place that will allow you to make a real impact on the lives of children across Ireland. We also offer the following:
- Barnardos offers a competitive salary – recognising the experience you bring to the role
- Generous annual leave entitlements plus discretionary Company days
- Employee pension scheme with employer contribution/ Company Sick Pay Scheme
- Access to regular trauma informed support, supervision, training and many other professional development opportunities
- Tax saver and bike to work schemes in operation
- Access to the Employee Assistance/Wellbeing programme for employees and their immediate family members
What’s the role and service?
In your role as a Child & Youth Participation Project Worker, you will assist in increasing the visibility of childhood domestic abuse; to support a collective and collaborative approach to identifying the needs of children; and to delivering effective services in response.
What will my day to day look like?
- Support the work of the CDVA and Empower Kids project in raising awareness of the impact of gender-based violence and abuse and its impact on children and young people.
- Identify issues/gaps emerging for children and young people who live with CDVA which contributes to and supports current practice responses.
- Facilitate children and young people in the empower kids project to reflect on and give voice to their experiences, and support them to advise on how to better respond to their needs in terms of prevention, early intervention, crisis and recovery.
- Work with and consult with children and young people in a variety of ways, including group work, individual work, and family work both centre based and outreach work.
- Provide the children and young people involved in participation work, with the necessary age-appropriate information to participate fully.
- Provide guidance and support to keyworkers in participating agencies to effectively facilitate meaningful participation with children and young people involved in the Empower Kids project.
- Apply recognised participation frameworks, such as the Lundy Model, in practice while maintaining up-to-date knowledge and continuous professional development in child and youth participation to ensure meaningful, rights-based engagement.
- Prepare and deliver presentations on the work of the empower kids project, to key stakeholders in order to raise influence of the work of the children and young people.
- Facilitate adult services users to have their voice heard in meaningful ways, through parent participation, to order to work towards positive outcomes for children and young people who have lived with domestic violence and abuse.
- Continuously assess risk in order to promote safety and well-being of children at all times.
What experience do I need?
- A minimum of 2 years’ experience of working with vulnerable children/young people and families – which may consist of up to 1 year pre-qualification relevant experience may be considered along with at least 1 year post-qualification experience
- A thorough understanding of the dynamics of domestic violence and its impact on children.
- A good understanding of child development and responding to children across a range of development stages.
- Experience of delivering programmes to children in response to their experience of domestic violence desirable.
- Experience of child and youth participation work desirable.
- Experience of planning, implementing and reviewing programmes with children and/or families.
- Experience of gathering data and writing reports.
Do I need a qualification?
Relevant professional 3rd level qualification (minimum Level 7 on the NFQ) essential, for example:
- Social Work, Social Care, Child Care, Education, Youth and Community Work, Psychology or equivalent.
Applicants with a Social Care or Social Work qualification must be registered with CORU as a Social Care Worker or Social Worker respectively.
Those eligible for CORU registration who are currently in the process of registration through their qualification, or under CORU’s transitional arrangements (grandparenting route), will be required to provide evidence that this in process.
Full driving licence and access to the use of a suitably insured vehicle essential.
Barnardos is an equal opportunity employer.
We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all.
Closing date: Wednesday 10 June 2026
Interview date: Monday 22 June
