Letter_Thanks_Joe_Tucci_2019.pdf
Vocational Service Award citation
The 2019-20 Rotary Club of Melbourne Vocational Service Award recognises the distinguished vocational service of Dr Joe Tucci.
Joe is recognised nationally and internationally as a thought leader in the welfare of children, resulting from his extensive research and significant experience in child protection and working therapeutically with children. His standing as an authority on child welfare is reinforced by his practical leadership as CEO, of Australian Childhood Foundation (ACF) for 23 year. During that time the foundation has grown significantly in capacity and reach, now touching directly the lives of more than 800 children each year and annually training around 6,000 people, including most new foster parents across Australia.
Joe graduated with Honours in Psychology (1986) and Honours in Social Work (1988) from Monash University and completed his Doctorate into emotional child abuse at Monash University in 2005.
Joe’s selfless leadership in developing and implementing child-focused therapeutic programs and child abuse prevention campaigns in our community extends beyond his ACF role, both nationally and internationally.
His experience also spans hands-on child protection work, and family counselling at the North Melbourne Community Health Centre, and child abuse research with the Department of Social Work at Monash University.
He is a frequent guest lecturer in child abuse and family therapy at Monash, La Trobe and Deakin Universities and Honorary Research Fellow with the National Research Centre for the Prevention of Child Abuse at Monash University. He has served extensively on a number of government advisory bodies including the Commonwealth Government’s Australian Council for Children and Parenting.
He has been a driving force in organising multiple international conferences on child protection in Australia, and in 1993, was awarded a Creswick Foundation Fellowship in Child and Family Relationships to work with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the United Kingdom.
Through this Award, Rotary Melbourne recognises and applauds Dr Tucci’s willingness to put service above self, which has resulted in significant advances in the well-being of young people and their family relationships.
