Senior Family Practitioner - Children with Disabilities, Family Help

Senior Family Practitioner - Children with Disabilities, Family Help

Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities! We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK's first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants.

We are looking for a skilled and reflective Senior Family Practitioner with extensive experience working with children and young people across a range of ages to join our Children with Complex Needs and Disabilities, Family Help Team. The successful candidate will be creative and able to work with children and their families in an innovative way to ensure they receive the right help at the right time.

As a Senior Family Practitioner, you will work alongside qualified social workers supporting children with disabilities and their families who are being offered a statutory service. You will be expected to case hold and work within the Child in Need framework. Key responsibilities include:

• Working directly with children with disabilities and their families, providing targeted interventions and statutory support
• Case holding and working within the Child in Need framework to support families effectively
• Producing good quality case reports and correspondence for a variety of audiences, including other agencies and service users
• Developing and maintaining effective working relationships with partner agencies, including education, health, and voluntary sector partners
• Maintaining accurate and high-quality records of all work undertaken on behalf of the Directorate

The role is primarily based at Kaleidoscope, Catford, 32 Rushey Green, London, SE6 4JF, with a hybrid working arrangement requiring regular time both in the office and at home.

About you

We are looking for an enthusiastic and knowledgeable practitioner who has the experience and confidence to work with children with complex needs and disabilities within a statutory setting. The ideal candidate will bring creativity, strong communication skills, and a genuine commitment to supporting children and families to receive the right help at the right time.

The ideal candidate will:

• Have a good knowledge and understanding of relevant legislation and guidance governing Children's Social Care and family support work
• Have good knowledge of child and adolescent development and disability awareness
• Have experience of working directly with children and families and providing targeted interventions
• Understand how disability impacts a child's lived experience and family dynamics
• Have knowledge of short breaks, direct payments, and eligibility criteria for services
• Be able to produce good quality case reports and correspondence for a variety of audiences, including other agencies and service users
• Have strong communication skills and the ability to relate to children and their parents, including the use of direct work with children with disabilities
• Be able to develop and maintain effective working relationships with partner agencies, including education, health, and voluntary sector organisations
• Have a good standard of written recording and be able to maintain accurate records of all work undertaken
• Understand why families may need Family Help assistance and have knowledge of the range of universal, targeted, and specialist services available to children with complex needs and disabilities

Lewisham Council is a Disability Confident employer. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the application or interview process, please contact the lead contact named on this advert. We also support the Access to Work scheme — further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply .

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check. All appointments will be offered at the minimum spinal column point (SCP) for the grade of the role. The only exception to this will be when matching current salary (up to the maximum of the scale), which is subject to evidential proof.

About Lewisham

Welcome to Lewisham – a vibrant and culturally diverse borough that is bursting with fantastic things to see and do. As a truly international borough with over 170 languages spoken in our homes and businesses, a thriving cultural scene, and a treasure trove of indie shops, bustling markets and more, it’s a great place to start and build a career.

Social work in Lewisham is changing and we have set out our vision and values for how we practice. In Lewisham Children’s Social Care (CSC), we know what good social work looks like and we are passionate about creating the right conditions and culture for good practice to thrive.

Our social workers benefit from working in small, supportive teams with caseloads on average between 15-20 children. Our ‘Signs of Safety’ practice framework means we are committed to working in a relationship-based way with children and families, focussing on strengths in the family network to effect change. A positive learning culture which promotes opportunities for reflection and relationship-based practice is important to us. We are committed to developing our practice using reflective practice spaces such as case mapping, thinking spaces and group supervision.

Our permanent and stable senior management team are visible and approachable. Our dedicated PSW and workforce team supports professional development across the service so that you will;

be supported through our comprehensive learning and development offer, which includes subscriptions to ‘Research in Practice’ and ‘Making Research Count’.

receive regular supervision and appraisal.

have 1-1 practice development coaching as a case holding practitioner, and professional development coaching as a manager.

have access to regular ‘Signs of Safety’ training and the opportunity to become a practice leader through attending our bespoke practice leader course.

have access to external leadership development opportunities such as Pathways and the Black and Asian Leadership Initiative (BALI).

have a clearly defined career progression pathway with opportunities for professional development at all levels.

We have a strong working relationship with Goldsmiths, University of London as part of the South East London Teaching Partnership so our practitioners have the opportunity to teach on social work courses as teaching consultants. We host ‘Step Up’, ‘Frontline’ and traditional route students and social workers have the opportunity to become practice educators.

Core CSC Staff Benefits include:

We have been awarded the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard – a benchmark for high employment standards. We are also one of the first London Councils to be accredited a London Living Wage employer and are a Disability Confident employer as well as a Timewise accredited Flex positive employer. We offer a 35-hour working week, and:

The opportunity to work in a thriving, diverse and developing inner London borough with a stable management team, manageable caseloads and a workforce group committed to promoting your development and emotional wellbeing

Generous salary for social workers at all levels

Generous holiday entitlement - starting at 27 days a year(pluspublic holidays)rising to 32 and 35 days after 5- and 10-years’ continued service.

Oyster card access for travelling in and around London for work and we are exploring initiatives, including Zip cars

Flexible working policies and a variety of hybrid, and flexible working options – we know how important this is to you

Smarter Working with new modern technology and training to support this

Career average pension scheme

Family friendly policiesincluding maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, and special leave for emergencies.

Variety of support schemes including key worker housing, tax-free childcare scheme, access to Civil Service Sports Club which offers financial discounts and savings on days out and entertainment. KAARP activities and entertainment discounts. We offer a shop local discount scheme, volunteering leave, long service awards, membership of the Crownsavers Credit Union and access to Payroll Giving.

Health and Wellbeing support includes a staff support hub and 24/7 employee assistance programme which incorporates mental health support, counselling services and access to the PAM Assist health and wellbeing app.

We have signed the Menopause Pledge and offer gender specific and gender-neutral health and wellbeing support with access to financial advice. We offer discounted gym and leisure centre membership including free lunch time swimming; interest free loans for season tickets, nursery childcare, and bikes, a “try before you buy” bike scheme and cycle training, smoking cessation, free eye tests and money towards glasses.

Active Employee Groups including the Black and Multicultural Forum, Anti-racist Network Group, LGBTQ+ Forum, Disabled Staff Forum, Climate Emergency Staff Forum, Trade Union Memberships, and a staff-led Change Network

Staff tell us they feel valued and enjoy working in Lewisham and are well supported by their managers with regular reflective supervision and good access to training.

“Lewisham has so much to offer any social worker. I feel supported, respected and valued every step of the way”

Lewisham Social Worker

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