Family Support Practitioner in Derry, Londonderry

Salary: £26,006.84 per annum pro rata.

Location: Derry, Northern Ireland.

Contract/Hours: Permanent / Part-time, working 30 hours a week.

Benefits:

• 29 days annual leave plus bank holidays pro rata, with up to 5 additional days for continuous service and option to buy or sell leave.
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities.
• Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages.
• Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover.
• Staff discounts and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers’ discounts.

Overview:

Vulnerable children in the UK need your help. Wherever you work within the Action for Children family, you'll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK. Last year, we helped more than 687,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive.

A Bit About the Role:

The Family Support Practitioner provides intensive support to children, young people, parents, and carers who may be experiencing a range of social, emotional, behavioural, or family difficulties within the level 2 Hardiker model. Working across the Derry and Strabane district, the role focuses on empowering families to make positive and sustainable changes through therapeutic and strengths-based interventions. The postholder will manage a caseload of families, carrying out assessments of need, developing tailored support plans, and delivering practical and emotional support within the family home, community settings, and partner agencies. A key aspect of the role is helping parents develop effective parenting skills, strengthen family relationships, improve communication, and build resilience to achieve better outcomes for children and young people. The role requires the use of therapeutic approaches such as trauma‑informed practice, solution‑focused interventions, emotional wellbeing support, and attachment‑based work to address identified needs. The successful candidate will work closely with schools, health professionals, social workers, and other support services to ensure a coordinated response for families. Accurate record keeping is essential and includes maintaining confidential case files, writing case notes and reports, monitoring progress against agreed outcomes, and ensuring compliance with safeguarding, child protection, and data protection policies. The postholder will contribute to service development through participation in team meetings, supervision, training, and the sharing of good practice, while working collaboratively with colleagues to achieve the organisation's objectives. The post holder must be able to drive, hold a valid licence and business insurance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Adhere to safeguarding, risk management, and child protection policies to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children attending the service.
• Be aware of the general issues and concerns that affect young people currently and be open for training if required.
• Attend internal and external meetings as directed by your line manager and collaborate and work in partnership with all statutory and voluntary agencies.
• Present information and facts regarding young carers to varied professional groups.
• Keep files up to date as required by the organisation.

About You:

• Diploma in Health and Social Care Level 3 or above or equivalent/related health, counselling, or social care qualification.
• Experience of direct work/engagement with children and families.
• Good report writing skills.
• Good working knowledge of safeguarding.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Excellent IT skills including use of Microsoft (Outlook, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint).
• Registration or willingness to register with NISCC.
• Business Class 1 insurance and a Clear UK Driving Licence essential for this role.

Contact: recruitmentservice@actionforchildren.org.uk (quoting reference 13392)

Closing Date: Thursday 23rd July 2026. Please note: Interviews are planned to be held week commencing 3rd August 2026.

Diversity, equality, and inclusion:

At Action for Children, we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic and disabled candidates as they are under‑represented within Action for Children. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups in society and for Action for Children. Male staff are under‑represented within our Children Service roles. We would like to encourage more male applicants for our Children Service roles. If you’re excited about this role but your experience does not align perfectly with the job description, we’d love you to apply anyway. You might just be the perfect person for this role, or another role within the Action for Children family.