Social Worker Aspiring Futures - Ref: CH04526 in Walsall

An exciting opportunity has arisen for the appointment of a social worker specialising in working with children and young people who are exploited to join our Aspiring Futures Team on a 12-month fixed term basis.

Walsall Children e2s Social Care have created a service for exploited young people, based on feedback from exploited young people, families, and professionals. The Aspiring Futures team consists of a Team Manager, Assistant Team Manager, Social Workers, Aspiring Futures Practitioners, and Exploitation Coordinators. Young people will have one Aspiring Futures Practitioner or Street Teams practitioner who will work in a relational, trauma-informed way to reduce exploitation risks, alongside a social worker within Aspiring Futures or locality family help teams.

The model is based on rationale practice and ensuring consistency of practitioners, enabling rapport to be built which contributes to keeping young people safe and supports mapping of all exploitation risks across Walsall. We actively attend and advocate for our young people in all statutory meetings and contribute to wider planning, having an in-depth understanding of our young people, their behaviours, and individual needs.

We work closely with partner agencies, including Police, Street Teams, the Youth Justice Service, Education, Health, the Violence Reduction Partnership, Mentoring Services, Detached Youth Work Services, and Voluntary Organisations. We undertake MACE (Multi-Agency Child Exploitation) Meetings monthly for all high-risk young people. Daily Exploitation Triage oversees all age exploitation and missing episodes, attended by partner agencies.

As a social worker within the Aspiring Futures team, you would work with a reduced number of young people who are being exploited, allowing for more intensive support. You will engage in assessments to identify and analyse the extra-familial and contextual risks the young person is experiencing, alongside familial risks and protective factors.

Participation and partnership working with the young person and their families is key, ensuring time is taken to build positive relationships and involve them in safety planning and decision making. Young people and their families are supported to actively participate in their MACE meetings and Team Around the Family meetings.

As a social worker, you will engage in group supervision with other involved practitioners, in addition to individual monthly supervision, and will also receive clinical supervision through a trained clinical psychologist.

About You

• You will be Social Work Qualified with a minimum of 12 months post qualifying experience working within children e2s services.
• You will be registered with Social Work England.
• You will be enthusiastic, passionate, and knowledgeable about reducing exploitation for young people.
• You will have excellent communication skills both verbal and written.
• You will have excellent assessment, report writing, and analytical skills.

If you are passionate about supporting young people experiencing exploitation and want to work as part of an innovative team in an OFSTED-rated ‘Outstanding’ local authority, please get in touch for an informal discussion.

Closing date for applications: 9th August 2026. Interviews to take place w/c 17th August 2026.

Walsall Council takes seriously the responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children, young people, and vulnerable adults entrusted to our care.