Family Practitioner (Children with Disabilities)

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Newcastle and Moorlands Children’s Disability Service as a Family Practitioner at a time where there is significant investment across Children’s Social Care.

We are committed to working with partners and families to support children and young people to be safe and secure, to promote physical and emotional well-being and to help them achieve their full potential within their communities.

We have four Children’s Disability teams across the county, and they provide specialist services for children and young people with complex disabilities. These are teams of highly dedicated Social Workers who support each other in the day to day task of ensuring we reach the best outcomes for our disabled children in a timely manner, enabling them to live their lives to the full. They are supported by a team of skilled Family Practitioners who assist in facilitating behaviour management work and undertaking direct work with children with disabilities and their families.

We are based at Castle House in Newcastle Under Lyme, covering Newcastle itself and the Moorlands. Hybrid working is supported, with a mix of being able to work at home and being part of the team in the office.

You will:

• work with children with disabilities and their families to support children to achieve improved outcome ( underpinned by restorative practice model)
• work collaboratively with social workers to support children in need, children on child protection plans and children in care.
• develop, facilitate and organise family and professionals’ meetings, events and groups.
• provide transport and support to children and their families to a variety of situations including school, medical appointments, meetings and social activities working under the guidance of the allocated social worker.
• provide intensive support to children and families to enable them to remain together or where appropriate to support reunification of families.
• work with children and families including contributing to assessments and providing practical support, this may include moving and handling, personal care, assistance with feeding, behaviour management and administration of medication following training by a qualified professional and within guidance of an agreed care plan and risk assessment.
• complete work outlined within assessment and planning on specific topics with children, families and carers (including but not limited to) staying safe, loss and grief, behaviour management, attachment and criminal exploitation.
• undertake flexible, creative and imaginative approaches to offering support to children, young people their families and carers.
• be available outside of traditional working patterns including evening and weekends to provide support to children, families and carers when it is needed.

You'll have:

• minimum standard of NVQ3 in respect of working with children and their families or equivalent.
• knowledge and experience of supporting children with disabilities.
• experience of direct work with children, their families and carers in a statutory or voluntary agency which provides services to vulnerable children and their families.
• an ability to work effectively in conflict situations.
• an ability to use IT systems and to write a good standard of records.
• a full and valid driving license required.

This role is currently subject to a review of weekend working arrangements, including any paid enhancements.

Don’t feel you meet all the requirements? We value transferable skills, experiences, and qualifications so consider applying anyway or for an informal chat about the role please contact either: Leanne Woodvine, Team Manager at leanne.woodvine@staffordshire.gov.uk or Anna Jones, Senior Practitioner: anna.jones1@staffordshire.gov.uk

Interviews will be held on Tuesday 12th November 2024

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.