Senior Family Help Practitioner - 22.20 hours in Torquay

We have Senior Family Help Practitioner vacancies in our Child in Need Team, providing s.17 assessment and intervention to our Torbay children and families. The Child in Need Team works with families to assess a child’s needs under s.17 Children Act 1989. Where ongoing assessed need is identified, the team will then work alongside the child and their family and our multi‑agency partners to develop and implement a plan of intervention to support and safeguard the child, with an aim of promoting risk reduction and best outcomes in line with the individual child’s needs.

Torbay Council is a restorative local authority, and we aim to work restoratively with children, families and colleagues. We have a focus on developing strong positive working relationships with whole families to support resilience and sustainable change. The aim of the teams is to provide high quality assessments, intervention and support to children and families, to enable children to achieve better outcomes, safety, stability and permanence.

About the Role: We are looking for skilled practitioners who have experience of direct work with children and families, including those who may have complex backgrounds or have experienced trauma. You will have the confidence and skills to work with children, young people and families in crisis. You will be a dedicated and enthusiastic professional, committed to improving outcomes for children and their families, along with a commitment to your own professional development. This is a case‑holding role and you will be responsible for the delivery of work with families within statutory timescales and responsible for meeting deadlines and managing your own diary in order to ensure that local authority duties are met.

You will have strong assessment writing skills and the ability to analyse information, underpinned by a strong evidence base to support your professional recommendations. Appropriate candidates will have a good understanding of children’s social care and local authority duties along with relevant legislation. You will also come with experience and knowledge of how to work with specific hard‑to‑reach groups including but not limited to those affected by domestic abuse, mental health difficulties, criminal exploitation and anti‑social behaviours, child sexual exploitation, gang affiliation, drug and alcohol misuse, and school exclusions. You will also need to have an understanding of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in order to be able to support our children and families.

This is a challenging role, however further training and development opportunities will be available via Torbay Children’s Services Learning Academy. The successful applicant will have the ability to travel efficiently around the Bay/South West/UK in order to carry out duties, and the ability to accommodate unsociable hours and to accommodate hybrid working.

Regulated Activity: This post will be carrying out Regulated Activity. As such the post will require an Enhanced Criminal Record Check plus an additional Barred List Check. The check will reveal any spent and unspent convictions and adult cautions (which have not been filtered), any local Police information and a check of either the Adult, Child or Adult and Child Barred Lists.

Legal: This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Essential Skills:

• Ability to carry out assessments, plan and deliver needs‑based packages of support, balancing risk and protective factors.
• Ability to produce and maintain accurate records and reports.
• Ability to engage positively with children, young people and their parents.
• Ability to exercise individual judgement and consult where and when appropriate.
• Effective communication/interpersonal skills.

Essential Knowledge:

• Understanding of basic human needs, physical, emotional and social.
• Knowledge of Social Care legislation, policies and procedures.
• Knowledge of issues facing families at risk of family breakdown.
• Knowledge of assessment frameworks.
• Understanding of the full range of activities delivered by the Authority and partners in relation to children, young people and families.

Experience & Qualifications:

• Level 3 qualification working with Children and Families or significant demonstrable experience.
• GCSE pass in English at Grade C or above or equivalent.
• Evidence of continued professional development.
• Considerable experience working as a community care worker in a health or social care environment with children and young people.
• Experience of working with children, young people and families displaying challenging behaviour or with complex needs/vulnerabilities.