Social Worker in Leaving Care Team

We currently have a vacancy for a qualified social worker in our Leaving Care Team within our Childrens Social Care Service. The leaving care team is a specialist team that looks after Reading's care experienced children and young people, ages 16-25 years. The care planning for separated migrant young people subject to immigration control also sits within this team.

We are looking for an experienced Social Worker who is passionate and who will be committed to this role and the team. If you feel you have the right qualities for our children and young people and want to make things better, then please come and join us.

We aim to ensure that our professionals have all the tools they need to do an exceptional job. We established managers and supervisors who are on hand to coach, mentor and support our staff through complex and high-risk case work. We also have access to Children in Care CAMHs, and an Emotional Wellbeing Panel that is crucial to support us with the work we do with our children and young people. Alongside personal and case supervision there is also reflective team supervision to support your learning.

We have also secured excellent training for all our staff through Research in Practice and established a sound partnership with the NSPCC. We value our social workers and will always encourage and motivate you learn and develop your skills to be the best social worker you can be for our children and young people in Reading.

Social Work qualification
Current professional social work registration with Social Work England
Understand and apply knowledge of the legal, social, economic, and ecological context of social work practice.
Experience and knowledge of working with complex needs and behaviour challenges using a trauma informed perspective.
Understanding and knowledge of multi-disciplinary working, including working with the Education, Health and Adult Social Care.
Understand the particular vulnerabilities of separated migrant children including the trafficking issues and challenges faced and be aware of best practice when assessing, supporting and placing children and young people who may have been trafficked. You will be able to draw upon specialist assessment tools to support your work and be familiar with and used to working with specialist agencies and organisations., Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.

Brighter Futures for Children is a not-for-profit company, owned by, but independent of, Reading Borough Council. Although we are independent, we are very much part of the Reading Family. Our people enjoy all of benefits as other Council employees including membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme and continuous service.

We work closely with partners in the local community and key organisations including Reading Borough Council, policy, public health and voluntary groups. We are responsible for the delivery of children's social care, early help & prevention, education services (including SEND). This also includes fostering and adoption, the Youth Offending Service and traded services with schools.

Our main aim is to protect and enhance the lives of the children of Reading. We help families find long-term solutions to ensure children lead happy, healthy and successful lives.

We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition are strongly encouraged, and you'll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.

A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:

Local Government Pension Scheme with generous employer contribution
Incremental holidays starting with 26 days plus public holidays (rising to 33 after 10 years' service)
Discounted Childcare (on site nursery)
Cycle to work scheme.
Season train ticket loans.
Salary Sacrifice Car Lease Scheme
A range of local shopping discounts

Inclusion and Diversity

We want Brighter Futures for Children to be a great place to work and to ensure that our children, young people and families are represented in leadership roles and positions of power. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking.

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and those of Other Ethnicities, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our children, young people and families so that equalities and justice remains at the heart of everything we do.

Asking for Adjustments

Brighter Futures for Children is committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and as accessible as possible for everyone. This includes making adjustments or changes for disabled people, neurodiverse people or people with long-term health conditions.