Family Practitioner – Children and Families Service

Seven Resourcing are looking for a Family Support Practitioner to work in Barnstaple, Devon. This is a full time position and is paying £19.55 per hour and includes a mix of home and office working, usually around 2 days in the office.

The role:

his is an exciting time to join Children’s Social Care as we aim to embed Life Story Work in our practice and ensure all children we work with have an understanding of their life story. Life story work is a therapeutic intervention, it is skilled work that centres around a child in order for them to understand their journey within the care system with the view that this understanding will encourage better communication and an understanding of the child’s needs and wishes and help the child develop stronger, closer relationships with carers, friends and staff through sharing stories and strengthening their own resilience thus substantially improving outcomes for children in care and care leavers. The postholder will undertake Life Story Work for an identified number of children and young people receiving a service from children’s social care. This will involve undertaking the work and liaising with those people who are significant in a child’s life. As an experienced and collaborative individual, you will be part of team who will ensure the delivery of age appropriate life story work, as well as offering support to social workers

Key Responsibilities:

• To be able to work flexibly including some evenings and weekends.
• To consider the needs of the family as a whole.
• To build honest and productive relationship with family members to enable them to change 

  and provide safe and consistent care for the children in their care.

• To provide practical ‘hands on’ support to the family so that they can provide a safe 

  environment for children and young people to live in.

• To be persistent, assertive and challenging to families – making them aware of the 

  consequences of their decision and actions.

• To work with the family as a whole, including absent parents and wider family members who 

  may provide alternative care and support for children and young people.

• Work with families to gain an understanding of past experiences and understand patterns of 

  behaviour.

• To use an evidenced based set of tools that are known to be effective in working with resistant 

  families and families in crisis.

• The post holder will be required to keep up to date electronic records of their case work with 

  individual families and to use several different systems. Confidence and competence with 

  using IT is therefore expected. 

  2

• The post holder will be expected to chair, attend and participate in meetings as appropriate 

  including Team Around the Family meetings, childcare reviews, planning meetings, case 

  conferences, panels and relevant neighbourhood meetings.

• Undertake assessment of needs using the Early Help Assessment, develop a plan of 

  intervention using the Right for Children processes and other evidence-based interventions 

  and act, where needed, as a Lead Practitioner.

• Undertake safeguarding responsibilities as required.
• Facilitate group work for families in partnership with other family practitioners or other 

  professionals.

• The post holder will not have direct supervisory responsibility for casework.

Applicant Requirements:

• Qualifications: NVQ Level 3 or Equivalent
• Experience: 2+ years working within a similar role. 
• Compliance: Current DBS check. 
• Travel: Clean UK driving license with the ability to commute to and from work independently.
• Hours: 37 hours p/w.

Working with Seven Social Care:

We have been helping social care professionals find exciting new roles for almost a decade, so we know exactly where to look when it comes to sourcing the best opportunities. We operate across the UK, and, with over 300 five-star reviews, multiple awards and amazing relationships with the biggest employers in UK social care, we give you the best chance of landing your next role.

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