Family Support Practitioner

Salary: £26,400 per annum

Location: Northamptonshire – You will be expected to travel to remote locations around the county.

Contract/Hours: Permanent - Full-Time 37 hrs per week, to meet the needs of the service you will be required to work some evenings, weekends and bank holidays working on a rota basis.

Benefits:

• 29 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays, with up to 5 additional days for continuous service and option to buy or sell leave (pro rata)
• 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 discount portal and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers discounts.

Vulnerable children in the UK need your help. Wherever you work in 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: As a Family Support Practitioner, you'll build happier lives for children aged 0 – 18 years old, their parents and their families by agreeing and directly delivering interventions in accordance with organisational policies, procedures and regulatory requirements.

About the services: Northamptonshire Targeted Safeguarding Support Service is here to offer caring, holistic support to families who are going through challenging times and have been referred to us through social care. We work with families who may be finding things difficult, for any number of reasons, and need a bit of extra help. Our aim is to support children, young people, and their families—whether they’ve just started working with Children’s Social Care or have been involved for a while. Ultimately, we’re here to help families move forward positively, with the goal of enabling children and young people to safely step away from the social care system when the time is right.

How you'll help to create brighter futures:

• Coordinating and directing support to children, young people and families by agreeing and providing interventions based on an assessment of need on a 1:1 basis, group or community setting.
• Lead case/care planning management, including undertaking assessments, reviewing and managing risks.
• Attend and participate at relevant multi-agency meetings, providing a leading role ensuring reflective and analytical practice review.
• You will be responsible for day-to-day resource planning to ensure high quality services are delivered.
• Establish and develop effective relationships and channels of communication with children, young people, families, colleagues, community organisations, partner agencies and other external agencies.
• Retain accurate and up-to-date records using various I.T systems to capture information and produce written reports and present these as necessary.
• By reviewing and evaluating service provision with others, ensuring continued improvements are made.
• Supervise, guide and direct staff and volunteers where necessary.
• Ensure a safe and positive work and service environment is achieved through compliance with all safeguarding, safer recruitment, health and safety policy and procedure.

Let's talk about you:

• Minimum Level 3 Diploma in Childcare, Learning and Development or a relevant occupational qualification in Early Years, Education, Social Work, Nursing, Teaching or Health Visiting.
• Previous experience of Family Support work and/or working with families with complex needs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to engage with young people and adults to gain their trust and be persistent when faced with avoidant behaviour.
• Meticulous attention to detail and experience of managing your own caseload.
• Experience of working on your own initiative, managing your own time effectively, working as part of a team and as part of multi-agency group with partner agencies.
• A strengths-based approach to working with parents, with the ability to work flexibly to meet the needs of families.
• Good I.T skills (Microsoft Office and database software).
• Safeguarding knowledge and experience.

Good to know: Application Process Please note we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. There are five sections to complete: Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration.

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.

Don't meet every single requirement? If you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't 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.