Do you see yourself as a leader of inclusive, relationship-based social work practice?

Are you passionate about improving outcomes for children?

Would you like to join a service committed to innovation and transformation of the way we work with children and families?

If yes, we have the perfect role for you!

Our Children’s Social Care Services are looking to recruit a full time Practice Specialist Social Worker to work within the children looked after service and help play a central role in achieving positive outcomes for children in Wandsworth!

About the service

Here in Wandsworth, we are on an exciting journey of transformation to become an outstanding service for children and families. We have developed our new Outstanding Practice Framework built on systemic practice and the implementation of Family Safeguarding this autumn. Family Safeguarding is a way of keeping families together where it is safe to do so. It was developed and promoted by Hertfordshire and is funded by the Department for Education. Wandsworth will be the first Local Authority in London to implement this new way of working.

Motivational Interviewing is a key component of the approach and all staff are being trained with the aim of working collaboratively with families, empowering and engaging parents to make positive changes for their children and themselves.

We are investing massively in our workforce, our leaders as well as partners to enable us to make our engagement with families and communities in Wandsworth a success. We have strong and visionary leadership from our Director and Deputy Director of Children’s Services who have the highest commitment to transform the help and support we provide to the children & families of Wandsworth.

About the role

We are looking for a Practice Specialist Social Worker to join our service at a time of exciting and positive change in Wandsworth. We are on a journey to be an outstanding local authority and are looking for applicants who wish to join us on this exciting journey.

The new role forms part of our enhanced career progression pathway, enabling excellent social work practitioners to remain in direct practice with families whilst also coaching and championing excellent practice across their service.

About You

We are looking for a Practice Specialist Social Worker that is passionate about transforming the lives of vulnerable children and their families, who can both work alongside families to understand what a good life looks like for them and how we can work together creatively to achieve it, as well as coach and mentor others to work in this way.

You will be skilled in building trusting relationships, talking to families about what matters most to them, making sure children’s wishes and feelings are central to decision making, increasing people’s hope, self-esteem and potential and connecting families to networks of support. You will draw on theoretical ideas and evidence-based approaches to inform your work and first and foremost you will be an outstanding child and family social worker yourself. You will play a pivotal role in developing outstanding practitioners and outstanding practices in your service area.

This role will be varied and exciting and no two days are likely to be the same. You will work closely with managers within the service to co-work complex cases, support practitioners to have creative conversations with families and improve practice that has been identified through quality assurance mechanisms. You will be able to lead and inspire, work with teams to think through practice dilemmas as well as with individual practitioners. You will have the confidence and creativity to come up with creative ideas to improve practice, be highly reflective and committed to developing the workforce so they can be very best in their practice with families.

Contact details

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Louise Jones (Principal Social Worker) on email at louise.jones@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

Benefits

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working including, working from home, compressed or part-time hours, term time only, job shares and other arrangements. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore. We also offer a generous holiday allowance of 39 paid days (pro rata) including bank holidays and a wide range of learning and development opportunities.

In addition, we offer a comprehensive range of staff benefits such as membership of the Local Government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, new technology scheme, interest-free loans on annual travel cards, discounts with many leisure activities, restaurants, shops, and other establishments. You will also be availed of all training available to the service.

Practice Specialist Social Worker - Job Profile

To apply please click the Apply Now link below.