What is a Key Worker?
A Key Worker is a dedicated professional who is part of a team of experienced therapy and teaching professionals. Their main goal is to support families in their child's development, focusing on understanding the unique characteristics of each family and their role in the child's development. They strive to be culturally responsive and take into account each family's cultural, ethnic, racial, language and socioeconomic background.
The Key Worker works closely with families to identify and build on their strengths and talents, and to address their specific needs. They strive to create an environment where families feel empowered to advocate for their child and make decisions that are best for their child. They work in partnership with families to ensure that the needs of the child and the family are met.
Additionally, the Key Worker is committed to ensuring that children with disabilities have equal opportunities to participate fully in their families and communities. They provide guidance to families in identifying inclusive mainstream and/or specialized services, locations, and venues that are appropriate for their child's development needs. They also identify and address barriers to participation, and work to create inclusive environments by identifying opportunities for natural learning in existing natural environments, and utilising community resources.
The Key Worker also works to build the capacity of community members to support inclusion for children with disabilities by identifying and recognising individuals with roles and strengths that promote inclusion and encouraging positive interactions, development of abilities and advocacy for the child.
At Necessity Kids, our Key Workers are dedicated to helping children with disabilities reach their full potential. They use the Necessity Kids Clinical Framework as a guide to organise, plan, and implement early childhood intervention, and align with best practice models and code of ethics from various peak bodies.
In summary, a Key Worker is a dedicated professional who works closely with families to support the child's learning, development, and skill-building through play-based activities and engaging environments. They strive to foster positive relationships with the child and their family to help the child reach their full potential, and ensure that children with disabilities have equal opportunities to participate fully in their families and communities.
By Blake Stewart
13th January 2023
