About the Role:
This Social Worker role is based in the Children & Families Team in Devon County Council.
Children & Families, Exeter & East Devon
Contracted Hours – 37 hours per week (Full-Time)
We are seeking experienced social workers to support our children and young people in Exeter & East Devon. This is a fantastic opportunity to build meaningful and positive relationships with children, young people, and families; working closely with them to achieve positive outcomes that are family led, built on strengths, and achieve safety and stability keeping them safe through their childhood and beyond. Social Workers need to be available to cover their allocations and visit children as necessary to meet service needs. There will be occasions when they can work from home but they do need to be available to respond when required to do so.
About our Teams
Our Children and Families teams are responsible for managing child-in-need and child protection cases as well as cases in legal proceedings and looked after children. The casework is varied, and you will be working creatively to promote positive change within the home environment. Our Exeter & East teams of Social Workers, ASYE’s and Family Practitioners are managed and supported by Team Managers and Advanced Social Workers.
Commuter travel allowance of up to £150 per week is offered for those living 50 miles or more from their work base. Claims must be recorded with detailed receipts provided to support the claims made.
Key Responsibilities:
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To safeguard children and young people and adults at risk.
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To take a strengths-based approach, which seeks to be inclusive, antidiscriminatory and anti-oppressive, and support others to adopt that approach.
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To gather information from service users, informal networks and other agencies to analyse, summarise and evaluate the information to provide a holistic assessment of needs, balancing risk and protective factors.
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To formulate and produce outcome-focused plans with clear aims and objectives (within the context of managing risk), and support others to do so.
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To maintain case records, keeping them up to date and to provide concise and accurate information about a service user’s circumstances and plans. Make use of IT systems provided by the Service, complying with policy and procedures.
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To manage a workload of complex cases and organise work activities; taking into account the need to prioritise tasks and responsibilities, working to timescales and meeting national and local performance expectations.
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To develop and maintain good working relationships with other professionals within the team, wider service area and partner agencies to ensure an integrated, holistic and multidisciplinary approach.
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To ensure that all necessary communications and referrals are made to relevant agencies, working together with them to promote the wellbeing of children, young people and/or adults at risk and best outcomes for them.
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To convene and chair multi-disciplinary meetings including those where a degree of challenge or conflict is expected; or where the meeting may contribute to the evidence which will support legal proceedings.
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To share information with other agencies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and/or adults at risk.
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To demonstrate knowledge and application of appropriate legal and national/local policy frameworks and guidance that inform and mandate social work practice. Apply legal reasoning, using professional legal expertise and advice appropriately, recognising where scope for professional judgement exists.
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To keep up to date with relevant research, statutory changes and practice guidance.
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To take responsibility for own professional development by attending supervision and appraisal and engaging in continuous, self-directed and purposeful learning and developmental opportunities to ensure best practice and maintain ongoing continuing professional development to ensure the requirements of the regulatory body registration are met.
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To operate in a manner consistent with the regulatory body standards and Social Work England Standards from December 2019.
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To take responsibility for the professional development of others including the provision of professional advice, mentoring and support to colleagues including advice, guidance and support to less experienced social workers and alternatively qualified or non-qualified social care staff.
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To support the teaching and assessment of social work students and Newly Qualified Social Workers carrying out practice learning in Devon.
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To participate flexibly in other team duties and activities as designated by the line manager or supervisor.
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Under the direction of his/her line manager, to undertake specific pieces of work in relation to customer feedback or representations, complaints, multi-agency projects or service developments and make recommendations or action plans and implement these to improve service delivery.
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To contribute to service development as required
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To use and model a restorative practice approach to build and maintain healthy relationships, and bring about change with and alongside people rather than doing things to or for them.
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To identify community and other natural sources of support, maximising strengths within families and communities using preventative/universal services.
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To confidently undertake interviews, observations and gather information from children, families and other agencies to analyse, summarise and evaluate the information to provide a holistic assessment of a child’s needs, balancing risk and protective factors.
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To produce focused outcomes-based and purposeful care plans for interventions within the context of managing the needs of and risk to children.
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To understand theories of child development, parenting capacity and family and environmental factors and use evidence based practice to establish the needs of individual children.
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To be responsible for investigations into cases where children have suffered or are likely to suffer significant harm and provide written and verbal reports which are concise, informative and based on analysis of complex evidence.
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On the basis of assessed needs and risks, to work with families to devise, implement and review care plans, including the development and management of child protection plans for all children who require them in line with child protection procedures.
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To be knowledgeable about and enable families to access a range of appropriate services and interventions to meet the needs of children, their families and carers by assessing, arranging, co-ordinating, and monitoring provision within delegated levels of responsibility and in accordance with the required local and national policies, procedures, standards and legislation.
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To take a leading part in decision making about the appropriate use of legal proceedings to protect and care for a child or young person, and where such procedures are instigated, to prepare the required documentation.
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To attend court as directed, present evidence and represent Devon County Council in court to inform decisions about the child or young person’s future.
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To chair multi agency meetings (e.g. Children in Need, core group), determine plans from meetings and make recommendations to the relevant manager.
Requirements:
- Qualified Social Work
- Registered with Social Work England
- Eligible to work in the UK
Interested?
For more information on this role or to apply, get in touch with our vendor department who will arrange for a specialist consultant to get in contact with you:
0203 906 8670