Senior Practitioner - Family Support & Protection

Permanent, Full Time

£40,637 to £49,183 per annum

Location: Harlow

Closing date: 19th August 2021

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity, and compassion; promoting development and wellbeing of children, young people, and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse. Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers, and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future.

Family Support and Protection

The Family Support and Protection (FS&P) teams work with families that have long term complex issues, require more than three months intervention, and where children are subject to child protection or child in need plans or where children can no longer live at home and care proceedings need to be initiated. FS&P Social Workers are responsible for building on the relationships with families using systemic and strengths based social work approaches. Through this they work alongside families to achieve positive change within the context of managing risk. This work is varied and involves working with Public Law Outline (PLO), taking families into proceedings and first hearing only, Special Guardianship Order (SGO) assessments and Section 7 court reports, reviewing as well as updating assessments and plans for children subject to Children in Need (CIN), Child Protection (CP) or Looked After Children (LAC).

The Role

As a Senior Practitioner you will provide leadership in the team, providing both support and mentoring to newly qualified or less experienced staff and deputising for the Team Manager when needed. You will oversee the review of some child in need plans particularly prior to closure and will have responsibility to lead in a practice area.

There will be opportunities for your own professional development and for being part of developing our team and service. There is an ethos of openness to the development of new ideas, particularly to reinforce our relationship-based focus, both with our service users and within the staff group.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Along with a diploma in Social Work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, and Social Work England registration as a registered Social Worker, you will be expected to bring skill and high standards of social work to your own caseload, with a comprehensive working knowledge and experience within the field of practice in Children Services. You will have experience of planning activities and programmes for children, young people and parents, and strong evidence of your knowledge and understanding of child development, relating theory and practice.

You will have experience of court work in relation to Child Care matters and an understanding of the legal process, with knowledge of current legislation pertinent to Child Protection (e.g. CA1989, CJA1991), Guidance and Regulations.

Ideally, you will have experience of Child Protection work including section 47 investigations and assessments since the implementation of the Children's Act 1989.Considerable, recent experience of communicating with children of all ages and working in partnership with parents and/or carers.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wide operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees. For more information please use the following link: https://www.workingforessex.com/working-here/pay-reward/

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success.

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email or call us on 0333 013 5888. Lines are open Monday to Friday between 08:30 - 16:30.