Job Description

3 months contract with A Local Authority

Job Summary:

·         The purpose of this post is to provide a holistic assessment of families and offer single or multi-agency coordinated packages of support.

·         The Caseworker will empower families to identify and tackle challenging behaviours, reduce negative family relationships, securing a positive pathway for improvement, with particular emphasis upon increasing educational attendance, attainment and reduce exclusions by:

1. Working in partnership with families offering listening, advice, and guidance in order to develop and enhance parenting skills.

2. Delivering evidence-based parenting programmes to a defined client group.

3. Completing assessments using the Early Help Framework and Signs of Safety model to make appropriate referrals to other services.

4. Taking on the role of the Lead Professional, co-ordinating services in the Team Around the Family (TAF) acting as the single point of contact, when required. To work in partnership with relevant professionals in statutory and non-statutory organisations

5. Supporting families who do not meet the thresholds that trigger the involvement of specialist services.

·         The post holder will work in partnership with the family to identify, broker and secure appropriate services to meet identified need, as well as providing direct support to schools to embed early help processes.

Key Duties/Accountabilities:

·         To carry a complex caseload and key work with families who are referred for support taking on the lead professional role to coordinate a multi-agency whole family approach to address difficulties.

·         To undertake whole family assessments ensuring a high standard of service to families, including securing the services of other agencies.

·         To review action plans regularly and coordinate activity to ensure agreed tasks are identified and goals reached in a timely manner.

·         To ensure that the service provide is delivered at times that suit and meet the needs of the families e.g. early mornings, late evenings.

·         To work in partnership with social workers to effectively step-down cases to the Early Help Service thus reducing social care caseloads.

·         To maintain accurate and detailed case documentation files with evidence of decision-making processes and statutory safeguarding actions recorded in relevant IT systems.

·         Follow Child Protection and Safeguarding procedures, alerting respective seniors accordingly to any risk issues that may arise including personal safety and safety of others.

Essential Experience Required:

·         To have significant experience of direct work with children young people and their families in the family home or in the community.

·         Experience of working effectively in co-operation and partnership with a range of communities, partner agencies, private sector bodies, public agencies, voluntary bodies and statutory agencies appropriate to the service area.

·         Working as a member of a multi-disciplinary team and in partnership with parents, professional and voluntary sector to meet the needs of vulnerable children and families who have multiple and complex needs to achieve sustainable and positive change.

·         Experience of working with complex case reviews such as multi-agency professional meetings e.g. Multi Agency Panels, Safeguarding or TAFs (teams around the family).

Essential Qualifications Required:

·         NVQ level 3 qualification or equivalent in the field of Childcare, Education, Health.

Additional information to note:

·         Enhanced DBS Required

Skills Required

• MS Excel
• MS Office
• Project management