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Senior Practitioner - Family Support & Protection Team

Employer
Essex County Council
Location
England, Essex, Chelmsford
Salary
Up to £237 per day + Umbrella
Closing date
5 Oct 2020

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Job role
Social Worker
Contract Type
Interim
This is a temporary position based in County Hall, Chelmsford to start as soon as possible.

The Role
The Senior Practitioner is responsible for the management of their own cases and support of social work staff in the management of complex Child Protection and Child in Need Cases, or Children Looked After. Whilst this will include investigation, assessment and purposeful intervention, the primary role within Family Operations is to achieve positive change within families wherever possible, with the aim of enabling children to remain within their home. This will be achieved through implementation of the Child Protection, Child in Need plan and achieving permanency through care planning for Children in Care.

To hold and sustain a caseload consisting mainly of the most sensitive, "complex and difficult" cases to which the post holder is able to bring to bear the highest standards of professional ability and a considerable depth of knowledge in relevant legislation in policy and practice methods.
There will also be an expectation within this role to support the progression and supervision of newly qualified social workers and students entering the profession.

In addition, the role contains undertaking operational duties and supporting the team manager through delegation of tasks, such as chairing meetings etc.

Family Support & Protection
Family Support and Protection works with families with long term complex issues that are most in need and require sustained intervention for more than 3 months, children subject to child protection plans. This includes reviewing and updating assessments, supporting families to achieve change, Special Guardianship Order assessments, Section 7 court reports, working with children subject to court proceedings who are at home or children subject to Supervision orders.

Reasons to work in Family Support & Protection, Mid

We have 4 Family Support and Protection Teams and we all work closely together which makes for a supportive and nurturing environment.

* Excellent and regular supervision (case/ development/ reflective / systemic)
* We have regular structured peer supervisions as well as informal supervisions
* Team managers are committed to ensuring that their staff have a good work life balance and their workers' wellbeing is a priority.
* We have a mix of abilities in the team from ASYE to senior practitioners and we are able to share knowledge and development
* Mid is in the centre of Essex, Chelmsford and Braintree has mainline rail links to London thus travel is easy, the location means that social work in Mid has both rural and urban locations.
* Mid social workers are based in a modern friendly and pleasant offices in Chelmsford and Braintree which has good links to motorways and is close to mainline train stations.
* The community in Mid is very diverse and the services users reflect this, the work we do is varied and diverse.
* The cases in Mid are reflective of the other 3 quadrants, we work hard to ensure that caseloads are manageable which allows time for direct work with families, using strength and relationship based models of working.
* Mid have unique senior practitioner roles that supports development and progression of social workers through the service
* Essex have a flexible working policy programme that, when possible fits with family life and work life balance.
* There is the opportunity to enhance your experience in Court work as well as Child Protection and Child in Need practice polices and procedures.

Diploma in Social Work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent.
* GSCC Registration as a Registered Social Worker.
* PQ1.
* Advanced Award in Social Work (AASW).
* IT/Word Processing Skills.
* Evidence of recent practice at a senior practitioner/team manager or equivalent level, supported by comprehensive working knowledge and experience of front line exposure to a wide ranging field of practice in Children Services.
* Substantial, in-depth 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.
* Experience in planning activities and programmes for children, young people and parents.
* Experience of Court work in relation to Child Care matters and have an understanding of the legal process.
* Detailed knowledge of current legislation pertinent to Child Protection (e.g. CA1989, CJA1991), Guidance and Regulations.
* Knowledge and understanding of child development, relating theory and practice.

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.

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.

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