Key Worker - Early Help - Children Services

Key Worker – Early Help – Children Services – Croydon Council

Salary: Grade 8 (£38,934 – £40,755)

Fixed Term (12m)

36 hours per week

Hybrid working

Job Purpose

This role will provide support for families across the continuum of need. This service aims to assist families in recognising and accessing relevant support networks which will enable them to enjoy and achieve a good standard of family life and wellbeing without the need for input from Children’s Social Care. Working within a supportive management structure, you will be responsible for the delivery of ‘whole family’ assessments and interventions using a ‘Team Around the Family’ framework. Through the use of regular review and management oversight, you will support the progression and achievement of ‘outcomes based’ family plans. Your work will be highly collaborative in nature, relational in approach and heavily influenced by principles of systemic practice. The service maintains commitment to the delivery of high quality support through intensive partnership working with families and universal provisions. As a keyworker, you will navigate and broker families’ access to a range of community services including health, education and third sector provisions. Keyworkers work closely alongside locality management, to achieve the delivery of high quality support for families. You will receive regular case supervision to support and guide the progression of your work with families. In addition, you will benefit from exposure to peer input and influences through your engagement in ‘mixed locality’ reflective discussion groups held on a monthly basis. As a service, we are continually seeking to develop our offer and input to children, young people and their families. We will support you to identify and access opportunities which promote your continuous professional development and enable you to engage with a wide breadth knowledge and learning.

About You

You will be a skilled, experienced and child-focussed practitioner, with a background of relationship-based work with children, young people and their families. You will be a confident practitioner, with broad understanding of child development. You will be able to tailor your knowledge to work with families across a wide age range, including expectant parents, early years, secondary transitions, adolescents and preparation for adulthood. You will be proficient in the undertaking of assessments and able to apply ‘whole family approach’ to the identification and understanding of need. We are looking for individuals who are skilled in the building and sustaining of relationships and able to engage families who may be hesitant or reluctant to work with the service. The work carries aspects of risk management due to the complex and often challenging nature of familial circumstances. As a key work practitioner you will liaise closely with families, management and wider services to identify potential risks and devise relevant ‘safety plans’ where appropriate to do so. You will carry a mixed caseload of approximately 25 children and manage your work in accordance with Early Help practice standards. Candidates must therefore possess good skills of time management, whilst demonstrating an ability to prioritise the progression of key work tasks. The work itself can be highly rewarding, but also requires a level of responsiveness at times. Applicants with an ability to ‘flex’ and tailor their approach to given scenarios will be welcomed. To be considered for the post, it is essential that you have a proven record of building relationships, responding to crisis and delivering outcomes. It is a pre-requisite that you possess experience in family and/or adolescent work.

Essential Requirements
Experience of undertaking effective decision making that leads to improved outcomes and reduces the risk of safeguarding issues.
Knowledge and understanding of systemic and strengths-based approaches
Extensive knowledge about the wide range of Early Help support available across the continuum of need ranging from universal through to targeted services.
Thorough knowledge and understanding of the research and evidence in relation to child development including issues affecting babies, children and young people’s vulnerability and resilience or sound knowledge in relation to the research.
Knowledge of statutory services and relevant children’s legislation including a high awareness of child protection and safeguarding thresholds, indicators of need and procedures.

Benefits
You will be valued for your skills and expertise, supported by the team of experienced professionals, as well as the management at Croydon Council, one of the largest employers in the borough. We also offer:

• Highly competitive compensation package

• 29-31 days (grade equivalent) annual leave in addition to Bank Holidays and option to purchase more

• A pension scheme with an average employer contribution of 20%

• Continuing Professional Development – genuine opportunities to grow, develop and specialise in your career

• Management development programmes

• Investment into your wellbeing

• Access to Employee Discount scheme with a range of programmes (Cycle Benefit Scheme, GymFlex, Retail Discounts and more)

• We promote flexible & hybrid working arrangements where possible to support a healthy work-life balance

To view the Key Worker – Early Help Childrens role profile click here

Closing date: Sunday 22 December

Disclaimer

Croydon Council is an inclusive employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. We will be pleased to consider applications from candidates seeking flexible working arrangements. As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the advertised role.

Croydon council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. The Successful candidate will be subject to an Enhanced DBS check which allows them to work with children.