Specialist Child & Family Worker - Education

Family Solutions is an Early Help service in Essex working holistically with disadvantage families, with multiple difficulties to enable them to make significant changes and improvements to their lives. Family Solutions is part of children's social care and was described as "exceptional" by OFSTED in their recent inspection which judged children's social care as "outstanding". An exciting secondment or one-year fixed term opportunity has arisen in the highly performing Mid Essex team. The team is based in Chelmsford and covers surrounding areas. The successful candidate will need to travel independently across this area. The work of a Link Family Worker is complex, sometimes challenging, but always varied and rewarding. Key aspects of the work include: Working closely with families to build strong relationships with all family members.

• Promoting positive change with families.
• Provide both practical and specialist advice as well acting as a lead coordinator for additional support services where appropriate.
• Managing your own caseload
• Managing safeguarding risks to children
• Taking the lead on an area of professional practice for the team through supporting team members, and liaising with professionals outside of Family Solutions
• Working with education and early years, to support families with school-readiness, inclusion and removal of barriers to learning and attendance.
The Mid Essex team are extremely supportive, and the post holder will be supervised by an experienced manager or senior social worker. Family Workers will also utilise support from colleagues who have specialisms in different areas. The post holder will be expected to operate flexibly, working out of normal office hours when required to best meet the needs of the family.


• Educated to degree level preferred but minimum NVQ level 4 or equivalent by experience in relevant thematic specialism i.e. Education, Domestic Abuse, Substance Misuse, Mental Health, and Parenting.
• Ability to work in partnership with others to maximise outcomes for families in line with the Family Solutions operating principles. Ability to work independently and as part of a team and to use supervision appropriately.
• Effective communication skills, good problem solving and assessment skills with a demonstrable track record of building and sustaining positive professional relationships with individuals and families with multiple and complex needs.
• Significant practical experience of working with families with multiple and complex needs.
Desirable:
• Experience of applying a solution focused approach and providing practical advice and support to families to enable them to achieve positive and sustainable outcomes.
• Evidence of continuing professional development with good knowledge in relevant professional area and commitment to the principles of evidence based practice.
• Experience of working within an educational setting.
The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider 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 the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service