Job Introduction
A rewarding opportunity for a Level 2 Children and Family Practitioner to join our established Practice Team, covering Milton Keynes South.
The team plays a pivotal role in the delivery of Early Help to children and young people living in Milton Keynes. We’re seeking a practitioner to help families who have been identified as requiring targeted, early help support.
You’ll undertake assessments to understand the needs of children and their families, work directly with children to build relationships and gain a better understanding of how they feel and what could be done to improve things for them as well as direct work with parents/carers which may involve helping them with the parenting challenges they’re facing.
Support takes place in the family home, children’s school, and other settings within the community. You’ll work alongside other professionals to ensure assessments and support cover a range of different needs. You’ll also take the lead for chairing ‘Team Around the Family’ meetings in accordance with the Working Together Policy 2018.
Interviews will take place on 7 May.
Main Responsibility
- Be the assigned practitioner to an allocated number of families, or where their needs sit below the threshold of statutory children’s services.
- Gain an understanding of what a child and young person’s life is like to identify the support needed to improve their situation by assessing them with the support of other agencies involved.
- Following an assessment, work with other agencies to identify the support needed to address any areas of worry. This may involve making referrals to other agencies to access the necessary support.
- Maintain accurate, clear and concise case recordings for all children and young people accessing the service. These will clearly detail the child and young person and their families’ circumstances to give a clear account of their life story.
- Direct, indirect and clinical supervision is available to assist you to achieve positive outcomes for children and young people and to support you as a person and for career progression.
- Support the Targeted Early Help service within the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on a rota basis.
The Ideal Candidate
- Our service welcomes someone who has experience of working directly with children and young people and their families including assessment of needs and the planning and delivery of interventions to achieve successful outcomes.
- As many of the families experience highly complex issues you will need to be resilient, resourceful and adaptable.
- Ability to travel including access to your own vehicle for which a mileage allowance will be paid.
- On occasions, there will be a requirement to work outside normal working hours.
- For this role you are required to have a full UK driving licence and provide evidence of your vehicle insurance with business cover and use of a vehicle. If you are successful, you will be required to supply evidence of your licence prior to starting the role.
- Should you be offered the role, as part of the pre-employment checks an Enhanced DBS will be actioned for you (unless you are on the DBS Update Service).
Package Description
In addition to your salary, we offer a range of benefits including:
- Great holiday benefits - most roles include 28 days annual leave every year on top of public (bank) holidays, increasing to 32 days after five years. In addition, there is a holiday purchase scheme allowing staff to purchase up to 5 additional days of leave each year.
- Excellent pension – everyone who works for us can join the national Local Government Pension Scheme, widely regarded as one of the best available.
- A full range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity support and a childcare subsidy.
- Access to an award-winning employee benefits programme that includes a health cash plan, a low-cost bike purchase scheme as well as high street discounts and money off entertainment and travel.
- Blue Light Card - employees working within social care can qualify for an additional range of discounts from national retailers and local businesses.
Our roles are either designated ‘site based’ or ‘home based’. ‘Site based’ roles can include up to two days a week working from home whilst ‘home based’ roles are based at home four days a week. Of course, managers designate which category roles are in based on the needs of the service and the circumstances.
About The Organisation
Milton Keynes City Council is a large, modern and financially stable employer with around 2,500 people working across our eight areas. Together we provide local residents and businesses with a wide range of important round-the-clock services and aim to make our city a better place to live.
We work hard because of the demands placed on us, like protecting children from harm or preventing homelessness. However, working for the city is always rewarding and everyone has the opportunity to make a real difference.
We’re very proud of our diversity and are committed to having a workforce that reflects the community we serve. Whatever your background, you will be welcome here if you share our values of being dedicated, respectful and collaborative.
We offer great training and support and because of the size and scale of the organisation there are always new opportunities to explore when it’s time for a new role.
If you’d like to know more about how we do things and what matters to us, take a look at our short booklet What makes us Milton Keynes City Council.
