Social Worker Looked After Children

Location Gloucester
Salary £33.00 - £35.20 per hour
Discipline
About the role
Working in a team in either Access and Response Team, Social Care Long Term, or Corporate Parenting, under the supervision of the Team Manager, the post holder will be a key member of an integrated child care team delivering a high quality service to vulnerable children in need, children who are looked after and placed in public care and children who need safeguarding.
The post holder will hold a child care case-load particularly focussed upon those cases where complex and sensitive issues are at stake which require a service response from an experienced, knowledgeable and skilled social work practitioner.
Working in a multi-agency context, the post holder will ensure vulnerable children and young people are identified, protected and supported to achieve positive outcomes through the provision of well planned, integrated and coordinated services. This will include organising, chairing and participating in meetings with a wide range of other agencies and disciplines to ensure that an effective and holistic service response is provided.
The post holder will hold responsibility for a specific area of work or expertise within the team where prescribed by the Team Manager.
S/he will maintain an up-to-date knowledge of relevant child and associated legislation, policy practice and research developments both to inform practice and to contribute to the development of quality services within the team.
Under the guidance of the Team Leader and the Senior Social Worker, the post holder will provide mentoring/consultation to an integrated team of professional child care staff, ensuring that a good standard is maintained within the context of legislative requirements, Council and Departmental policies and procedures.
S/he will ensure that case records and general administration duties are maintained to a high standard that fully aligns with departmental requirements so that work can regularly be reviewed.
The post holder will participate in staff development programmes and will provide support for students and newly qualified social workers as directed by the Team Leader.
Physical Effort and Working Environment (other than in a normal office environment)
Regular visits to the homes of service users with occasional visits to a range of settings.
About the team
The post holder will work in the Social Care section in one of the following areas:
• Access and Response – working within two areas covering managing initial preventative and social care contacts for the Integrated Children’s Service and screening and assessment including Child Protection investigations.
• Social Care Long Term – working in one of four locality teams (two north and two south) covering Child Protection and Children in Need.
• Corporate Parenting – working in one of three teams:
o Looked After Children - Manages all children in care work and care leaver cases.
o Fostering and Adoption - Recruitment, assessment and support of foster carers and adopters; assisting in family finding and matching of children and young people who need to be cared for outside of their family of origin.
o Transition to Independence Service – Supporting children who are leaving care and other vulnerable young people.
About the wider section/function
This post sits within Integrated Children’s Services, which is divided into:
• Preventative Services – Providing early intervention and preventative services; Children's Centres, Parenting & Family Support, Youth services, Common Assessment Framework (CAF), Troubled Families.
• Access and Response - Managing initial preventative and social care contacts for the Integrated Children’s Service – Screening and assessment including Child Protection investigations.
• Social Care Long Term – Covering Child Protection and Children in Need.
• Corporate Parenting – Comprising; Fostering & Adoption, Looked After Children and Transition to Independence.
Promoting working in partnership with colleagues from Integrated Children’s Services and other agencies/partners is essential to ensure that multi-agency packages of support are provided to children and families and to ensure better outcomes for them.
Problem solving and decision making examples
The post holder will hold a case-load where complex and sensitive issues are at stake, and will therefore need to ensure that those children most at risk of suffering significant harm, or are at risk of being accommodated, receive a service that ensures their safety and promotes their welfare. This will entail in-depth assessments and understanding of complex issues, needs and risks, as well as facilitating partnership working across teams and agencies, in order to develop and implement effective and holistic solutions.