Vacancies

Family Support Practitioner - Fostering Special Guardianship Support Team

Job Introduction

Family Support Practitioner - 1 year fixed term contract

Are you passionate about making a real difference in children’s lives?

BCP Council is looking for a dedicated and compassionate social family support practitioner to join our Fostering Special guardianship support team. We are proud to have achieved a GOOD rating from Ofsted, recognising our commitment to providing excellent care and support for children and families.

At BCP, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to continuing building a diverse and inclusive workforce. Your unique experiences and perspectives will help us continue delivering outstanding care to children in our community.

Due to expansion in our service, we have an exciting opportunity to join our team. We are looking for a family support practitioner, for a 1-year fixed term post, within the newly established Special Guardianship support team. This role will sit within their own SG Support team; however you will be working alongside the Fostering, Supported lodgings, Private Fostering and SGO assessment service. You will also collaborate with the work being undertaken for BCP’s Kinship Care strategy, to provide high quality support for all kinship carers, ensuring partnership working across all relevant agencies.

About the Role:

As a family support practitioner in the Special Guardianship Support team, you will provide vital support to children, young people and their carers, working closely with all other professionals.

The Special guardianship support team provides the following services:

Assistance in relation to contact (including mediation)
Counselling, advice, and information
Access to therapeutic services
Support groups
Financial support can be offered in certain circumstances

We work closely with special guardians, supporting them with the challenges they face in providing care for someone else’s child. We want to ensure the family environment remains positive for both the child and family.

If you are a reflective, proactive family support practitioner or you have experience of working with children and young people and are interested in broadening your horizons, this is a fantastic opportunity to develop your career. You will work alongside a team of highly skilled and motivated individuals. You will deliver high-quality work and will have the opportunity to utilise creativity as we develop the new SGO support service within BCP Council.

Your role will involve:

Building strong relationships with children, young people, their carers and families to support positive outcomes and change.
Working in a child centred way, where the voice of the child influences the interventions and support given. Where appropriate, chair professional and formal meetings in relation to service users.
Appropriately & proportionally sharing information to support the management of risk & vulnerability.
Use of excellent interpersonal skills and be committed to working in collaboration with colleagues and partners across children’s services to achieve an effective and efficient service
Efficiently and effectively maintain case records on local information recording systems and ensure these records are maintained in line with legislative requirements and Borough policy and procedure.
Representation/advocacy of children/Special Guardians – to attend education reviews, panels, multi-agency meetings as appropriate to support families.
To undertake/contribute to robust high-quality assessments of current need and ongoing support need, in line with the requirements of the relevant legislation.
Writing, sourcing and reviewing of Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund applications. This could include home visits and direct work with children, ensuring the voice of the child is heard in all decision making.
To undertake out of office hours/weekend duty cover in accordance with service requirements.
To keep up to date with all relevant policies and procedures relating to Children’s Services in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Maintain knowledge of relevant research, government guidance, legislation and best practice in relation to child care and the specialist service area to which appointed.
To attend any training courses and activities considered relevant to the appointment which would assist in undertaking the role.
Make effective use of supervision to enhance and reflect on own practice, seek advice on individual cases, develop personal resilience, and to promote continuous professional development.
Contribute to team and unit duty rotas, ensuring that service users, professionals and other members of the public are dealt with appropriately and promptly.
Attend and participate in team meetings to actively promote effective professional working relationships, to maintain up to date knowledge of organisational requirements and to share good practice.
Participate in specific service development projects as agreed with the Team Manager including the development of effective working relationships with a wide range of internal and external partners and stakeholders. Where appropriate, this will include representing the team or wider service in meetings and other forums.
To undertake any lesser or comparable duties as required.
The core functions of the role will be that of the family support practitioner.

What We’re Looking For:

Experience of working with Children, Young People, and Families in a Support or Care setting.
Experience of already working to the DfE Knowledge and Skills statements for child and family practitioners.
Be willing to develop confident presentation skills.
Have a commitment to continuous professional development.
A commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
Strong communication and teamwork skills.
A passion for making a difference in the lives of children and families.
To have your own mode of transport (essential car user).
Able to work creatively in a fast-paced team and confidence in multi-tasking, prioritising and working to time scales.
High level of computer literacy and a good level of understanding using Microsoft Excel.

Why Join Us?

With our newly announced GOOD Ofsted rating – be part of a service that’s making a real impact!
Practice Framework based on restorative practice and trauma informed approaches.
Work with an experienced and passionate leadership team, offering you ongoing training and career development opportunities.
Be part of a welcoming, diverse and inclusive team with a positive working culture.
Competitive salary with local market supplement.
High employer contribution towards your Local Government Pension Scheme.
The chance to be part of a service making a real impact in our community.

What We Offer You:

Full induction, including Practice Fundamentals on offer.
A clear career progression pathway and excellent continuous learning opportunities.
Manageable and diverse caseloads.
Regular guidance and supervision, we’ll limit the amount of time you’re on your own.
25 days of annual leave (pro rata for those without continuous service), in addition to Bank Holidays.
Competitive salary with access to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
Flexible working arrangements at our newly refurbished Civic Offices and Local Offices conveniently located near your work area.
Day 1 access to our Employee Assistance Programme.
Relocation Scheme.
Staff network groups.

To be considered for this role all applicants must have full Right to Work in the UK without any current or future requirement for sponsorship in the future.

For an informal discussion about the roles, please contact either:

Samantha Hayward, SG Support Team Manager at:

Samantha.hayward@bcpcouncil.gov.uk or

Rubina Payne, Service Manager Fostering & Supported Lodgings at Rubina.payne@bcpcouncil.gov.uk

Check out our academy website for more details BCP Partnership Academy

About BCP Council

BCP Council provides services to a diverse community of 400,000 residents and employs more than 5,000 people. Our area includes over 15 miles of beautiful world-renowned coastline. We can offer career defining roles to transform and improve services. By working with us, you can help deliver a vision of a thriving, word-class, prosperous and inclusive place for generations to come.

Our Benefits

We offer an excellent benefits package for further details see here

As a result of the creation of BCP Council in 2019, we are working on simplifying our terms and conditions of service and will be creating a single pay structure which is to be applicable for all employees. It is important to us that we offer benefits that our colleagues value as part of their total employment package and we are reviewing these to make sure we have it right. We have been in a process of collective bargaining since 2019 and have positively worked forward to reach an agreed position with the unions for the new contractual offer. This has taken longer than we hoped and therefore we are having to consider all alternative avenues available to enable us to remove inequality in the organisation as a result of bringing together 3 councils.

We are in the process of establishing a timescale for implementation, and all colleagues joining us will be included in these changes. We want to reassure everyone that whichever route is taken to reach the new terms and conditions, we can honour continuous service and there will not be any job reduction as a result of the implementation of Pay and Reward. If you have any questions at all about this process, please feel free to raise this with the hiring manager.

DBS

BCP Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the community and expects all staff and volunteers to share the same commitment. Applicants to this post will be required to complete the appropriate level of Disclosure & Barring Service Check. Please refer to the Job Description or Role Profile for more details.

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