Children's Experienced Qualified Social Worker - Children in Care

Our family are usually the people closest to us, those we care most about. Family life is not just about legal ties - it goes far deeper than that. It concerns our most important biological, social and emotional relationships. We hold the value that children and young people are best cared for by their birth families and extended networks, and this underpins our 'family first' ethos. Where this cannot be achieved, we seek to ensure that children and young people's relationships are maintained in line with their best interests. Birth parents and extended networks are included within the decision-making processes and we provide alternative care which is nurturing and which fosters a sense of belonging. There has never been a more exciting time to join our service: alongside making a difference to the lives of individuals and families, we have adopted exciting new strengths-based approaches and are passionate about delivering continuous service improvement. As a social worker for children in care you'll be looking after and supporting those children who have for one reason, or another been taken into care. So, you'll be completing children's plans, attending reviews, you could be attending court, making visits to children, and completing PEPs. But above all, you will bring the desire to work with children and families to give them the right support, at the right time with the aim of keeping families together where it is safe to do so.

As an experienced, worker in trauma/ mental and emotional wellbeing/systemic practice, would you like to work for an 'Outstanding' local authority - one with an established management team, committed to developing excellent practice and ensuring that our staff receive the best support we can offer? There has never been a more exciting time to join our service: alongside making a difference to the lives of children and families, we have adopted exciting new strengths-based systemic approaches and are passionate about delivering continuous service improvement. We need someone with experience and determination to support children and young adults in care and care experienced to provide stability in their lives and support them to build resilience and manage trauma through direct intervention in their lives. You will be a part of a therapeutic systemic team, social work assistants, fostering support workers, fostering social workers, residential staff and birth family, personal advisers and Camhs. You will have experience and use of models and approaches that are part of an evidenced based framework for practice with children and young people such as systemic., Children and young people are at the heart of all we do. The qualities that are important to them are:

• Understanding that there are layers to a person, a practitioners ability to see the person as a 'whole'
• The ability to practice care and kindness
• Being able to really listen to children and young people - what are their views, hopes, aspirations and worries?
• The ability to communicate well
  
  Our brilliant practitioners are at the heart of our ambitious approach to improve outcomes for children and families in Telford and Wrekin: from tailored in-house training to the West Midlands Teaching Partnership, we ensure that our workforce have access to the best development opportunities.
Here at Telford and Wrekin Council, we have been judged to be outstanding overall in terms of effectiveness (the only Authority in the West Midlands with this judgement) for the second time! Here's just some of the great things Ofsted had to say when they visited us in April 2024:
• Children and families in Telford and Wrekin continue to experience exceptional social work practice when they are in care and as care leavers.
• Participation is a real strength and children's and families' involvement is threaded throughout service developments.
• Social workers know their children well and have developed effective relationships with parents.
• The virtual school is a significant strength in Telford and Wrekin.
• Care leavers benefit from an extremely comprehensive and generous local offer.
• Corporate parenting is a strength in Telford and Wrekin.
• The stability of the experienced workforce creates the perfect environment to benefit children and care leavers. As a result, social workers maintain relationships with children who know them over many years, which contributes to children's feeling of belonging.
• Staff enjoy working in an environment where senior leaders are visible, and they feel valued.
There has never been a more exciting time to join our service after the recent publication of our Ofsted Inspection!, Telford & Wrekin Council is an award winning council, and we were recognised as Local Authority of the Year 2022 at the Municipal Journal Awards, and the Association for Public Service Excellence Council of the Year in 2021. At Team Telford we work hard to protect, care and invest to create a better borough and our employees are at the heart of everything we do. Having the right people, with the right skills, in the right roles allows us to deliver the excellent services that residents and businesses on the borough expect from us. Our friendly and passionate teams are trusted by leaders and managers to deliver this ambition. We invest and nurture our workforce and support our employees to develop and thrive. The better we are the bigger difference we make to the people we serve.

Staff undergo training and ongoing skills development workshops within children's services and follow a structured intervention programme with children and families which aims to work collaboratively with them and increase engagement. Our brilliant practitioners are at the heart of our ambitious approach to improve outcomes for children and families in Telford and Wrekin. We value our practitioners and offer staff rewards and plenty of opportunities for personal development and career progression including: Free on-site parking Full reimbursement of your annual Social Work England registration fee Essential car user allowance Flexible and mobile working policy - we are well adapted to a hybrid model of working which includes a combination of time spent in the office and at home - our approach is to promote greater level of flexible working. Here at Telford and Wrekin Council, we have been judged to be outstanding overall in terms of effectiveness (the only Authority in the West Midlands with this judgement). Children are cared for and cared about Social Workers and other staff who support children are very committed and they are exceptionally well trained Children are listened to and their experiences are well understood Senior Leaders aspire to a service for every child that they would welcome for their own Children benefit from a stable workforce which is highly committed and experienced Staff experience a wide range of development opportunities If you share our passion for making a difference, we would be delighted if you joined us., We value our employees and offer staff rewards and plenty of opportunities for personal development and career progression including:
• Competitive rates of pay
• Automatic access to a secure, flexible and tax efficient Local Government Pension Scheme
• Staff benefits and discounts including salary sacrifice schemes
• Free on-site parking
• Generous leave entitlement (24 days rising to 32 days) plus 8 bank holidays and an additional concessionary day
• Free access to our employee assistance programme and confidential counselling
• Flexible and mobile working policy - we are well adapted to a hybrid model of working which includes a combination of time spent in the office and at home - our approach is to promote greater level of flexible working around personal and family commitments
• Private lettings are available from 'Nuplace' who give priority to social work professional, In return we also offer a great range of benefits including competitive salaries, flexible working hours and work arrangements, employee discounts, salary sacrifice schemes, a local government pension scheme and generous annual leave entitlement.
At Telford & Wrekin Council, we know that having a diverse workforce is key to providing the best possible services to our community. We celebrate having a diverse and inclusive culture where people are able to be themselves at work, and everyone has a voice and we know we are stronger and better connected as a result. We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and where our data shows that specific groups are under-represented within our workforce, our adverts will actively encourage applications from these groups. We are also proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, committed to recruiting and retaining people with disabilities or other health conditions. You can find out more about this and our 'guaranteed interview scheme' here You can also read more about our Recruitment and Selection Policy and Recruitment of Ex-Offenders here and the Transgender & Non-Binary Inclusion Policy commitments here