Rosanna Afford

Social Worker

Hi, I'm Rosanna (Rosie). I started my social work journey back in 2010, via a Family Reunification service in Adelaide supporting children and their families. Then England beckoned, and I scored a position with the Essex Child Protection Services working in foster care and with child protection teams. My reward was meeting many diverse and interesting communities. It was a privilege to be part of their lives for a short time; typically, during what was a very emotive and unpredictable time for them. For me, another highlight was being in London during the Olympic Games, watching the opening ceremony in a local park with hundreds of others.

I returned to Australia in 2014 to work in a Disability Support Team in Western Sydney, and, for the next 3 years worked alongside a skilled team of allied health and early childhood professionals before also taking on the role in NDIS Planning as the roll out of the NDIS begun in NSW (2018).

But travel was still in my soul and come July 2018, I decided to take a break from social work and moved to Italy to complete a CTEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course. I taught English to Adults and Children for several months in Bologna while studying Italian myself. By March 2019 I was off to London, this time within the Post-Adoption/Special Guardianship team supporting birth and adoptive families guide their children through their life journeys. My bittersweet moment was working with adults who were seeking details from their records re: history about their birth parents. Some records were archived from 1940s and 1950s. Being able to provide more details about someone’s history was so rewarding but at times also upsetting (ie when there was sadly minimal information on file).

By mid-2021 it was time to come back to Australia (for good? J time will tell). I was fortunate to land a position working for Can:Do 4Kids and start a Masters in Speech Pathology.

To me, communication in all its form is extremely fascinating and we all have a right to have our voices/words/ideas acknowledged and expressed.

You'll find me communicating in English, Auslan (although I am not fluent), and some Italian. I also like to dance lindy hop around the lounge room and have been known to make a pretty good pavlova!

Rosanna Afford
Senior Social Worker

Bachelor in Social Work
CTEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Certificate in Systemic Social Work Practice with Children and Families
Master of Speech Pathology (current study)