ZJCN Behavioural Scientist

WO | Bonaire | 36 hours | Vacancy number P&O2025_05_013 | Closing date: 10 June 2025

Job description

We are looking for a dedicated and experienced Behavioural Scientist to strengthen our team within Youth Care Caribbean Netherlands. In the position of Behavioural Scientist, you supervise and support youth professionals in the performance of their work.  If necessary, you also maintain contact with the client system yourself.

Youth Care CN implements voluntary youth assistance, the child protection measures, rehabilitation, foster care, and assisted living. Youth care includes the support and assistance to young people, their parents, stepparents or others, who care for and raise a young person as part of their family, in the event of complex growing-up and upbringing problems or the threat of such problems.

As a Behavioural Scientist in youth care, you make an active contribution to the improvement of the development of young people. From your expertise, you support the reduction and elimination of parenting problems. You do this directly but also indirectly via advice to youth care professionals. In doing so, you use a systematic and methodical approach based on scientific evidence and insights from developmental psychology and orthopedagogy. You make a substantive contribution to the entire assistance process from registration to completion. You cooperate and liaise with other organisations on the islands that work with youth. You have sufficient knowledge of diagnostics and treatment, you can develop and describe methodologies. You think along with the policy of the organisation, you profile your profession, and you work on the advancement of expertise.

The organisation

Care and Youth Caribbean Netherlands (ZJCN) focuses on the care of the child whose development is threatened, so that preconditions of safety and developmental conditions are met. The ZJCN does this in both voluntary and compulsory settings.

The youth policy in the Caribbean Netherlands has two governments: the Public Entities are primarily responsible for the prevention and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) is responsible for the heavier youth care and the implementation of the family guardianship.

Your competencies

• Sociability; you are sociable and can work together well
• Analytical; you map out the situation with a methodical, analytical eye
• Formation of opinion; you form an opinion, you make and argue decisions
• Expression skills (oral/written): you convey information and advice, both in writing and orally, in an understandable way
• You can reflect on your own actions
• You can position yourself substantively
• You can motivate and stimulate others

Job requirements

• You have an academic professional and intellectual level in the field of (Ortho-) Pedagogy and/or (Development) Psychology or equivalent training with a basic psychodiagnostics endorsement;
• You have good command of Dutch and English in the spoken and the written word, Papiamentu is preferred, or willingness to learn it within a year;
• You have extensive work experience as an educator / psychologist preferably combined with practical experience in working with the target group. Experience and professional knowledge of foster care is an advantage; You also have knowledge of behavioural patterns within cultural contexts and the social map on the islands. Experience in working with people with mild intellectual disabilities is an advantage;
• You have the necessary social skills to liaise with young people and, as part of this, the ability to persuade, motivate, and encourage for the behavioural change to be achieved;
• You have broad relevant oral and written skills for (leading) case discussions, therapeutic contacts, and client reports;
• You are alert with regard to signals that may involve unsafe situations for the client, such as (sexual) abuse and mistreatment;
• You have a 'hands on' mentality, you are creative, and you can think out of the box;
• You are flexible, available, and deployable during a crisis.

What do we offer?

• A competitive salary in initial salary scale 10 and job salary scale 11, monthly of at least $ 3,578.00 and at most $ 5,319.00, in case of a 36-hour working week. Assignment to a pay scale based on knowledge and experience;
• Holiday allowance (8.33% of the annual income);
• A thirteenth month (8.33% of the annual income);
• A vitality Allowance;
• A pension provision placed with Pensioenfonds Caribisch Nederland (PCN);
• 182 holiday hours in case of a full-time employment (36 hour) per year;
• A temporary appointment of one year with the prospect of a permanent appointment for good performance and a positive assessment result
• A relocation package for candidates who react from outside Bonaire.

Procedure

An assessment, case and/or reference check may be part of the procedure.
The following order is taken into account in the selection:

• Official RCN staff on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (internal);
• Residents of the Caribbean part of the Netherlands (external);
• Other candidates (external);

Appointment requirements

• A Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG);

• A medical examination for admission to the pension fund; participation is mandatory, including a personal contribution to it;

• Dutch citizenship.

Good to know for those interested outside the Caribbean Netherlands

• The salary is in US dollars which is the official currency in the Caribbean Netherlands;

• The Caribbean Netherlands has its own tax regulations. Income above the tax-free allowance ($21,373 in 2025) will be taxed at a rate of 30.4% in payroll tax in the first bracket; In the second bracket, a tax rate of 35.4% applies.

• You are or will become a resident of the Caribbean Netherlands.

More information?

For information about this position you can contact Regiline Sambo, Head Youth Care, Telephone number: + 599 790 4517

Digital application

You can send your Curriculum Vitae accompanied by a motivation to vacature@rijksdienstCN.com