Specialist Supporting Families Worker

As a highly autonomous community-based worker you hold a case load and be working in family homes, schools, and community bases with the option to complete administrative work at home or in our office conveniently located in the centre of Harlow. You will hold a caseload of approx. 10 families with complex needs and be responsible for affecting change. You will be expected to be in the office for some meetings, to cover duty one day every other week and to collaborate with other workers in line with your specialist role sometimes. Parking is available free of charge and mileage expenses are renumerated. This is an exciting opportunity to work as part of a busy yet challenging service delivering creative interventions to support families to change. We work here within the Supportive Families Programme defined by central government to impact upon outcomes for families, working towards improving the quality of their lives., The work of a Specialist Children and Family Worker is a varied and rewarding supporting children and families with many different types of complex need. Key aspects of the work include:

• Working closely with families to build strong relationships with all family members across a broad range of issues.
• Promoting positive change with families.
• Provide both practical and specialist advice as well acting as a lead coordinator for other support services
• Managing your own caseload
• Managing safeguarding risks to children
• Taking the lead on an area of professional practice supporting the design and delivery of parenting programmes and intervention for the team through supporting team members, and liaising with professionals outside of Family Solutions
• You will be expected to operate flexibly to meet needs of the families with some work taking place out of normal office hours
• You will work across West Essex in Harlow, Epping Forest, Saffron Walden and Brentwood
  
  Significant practical experience of working with adults, children, and young people with complex needs such as trauma, substance misuse and domestic abuse.
• Educated to degree level or equivalent by experience in relevant area which in this case is Parenting .
• Effective communication skills with a range of children, families, and professionals.
• Ability to keep records on our computer-based system, complete assessments and other key documents in a way which is accessible to children and families, yet professional.
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.

Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It's an exciting time to join us. Not only have we been named Outstanding by Ofsted, we are delighted and at the same time humbled to have been crowned Social Work Employer of the Year for the second time in the last three years! Why work with us?
• Fantastic Career Development pathways with opportunities to progress towards being a Social Worker or an Education Psychologist among many other routes that you could follow.
• Use your skills to make a difference to the lives of children and families who experience difficulties and inequalities
• Work for a high performing team with great team morale and friendly, helpful, and supportive colleagues., 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
  
  26 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• 37 hour working week. Monday to Friday.
• Local Authority Pension Scheme. For more details please visit: https://www.essexpensionfund.co.uk/
• Continuous Service - Joining us from another local authority? Then you could benefit from bringing your time served and benefits with you.