Family Support Practitioner

We're thrilled that you're considering a career with Action for Children so here's what you need to know…...

About Us:

At Action for Children, we believe that every child should have a safe and happy childhood. Last year, we helped more than 600,000 children and families across the UK. We work to ensure their voices are heard, and campaign to bring lasting change to their lives.

About the Role:

Ballymena & Little Steps Sure Start provides a range of health, play & learning and parenting support services to children, from pre-birth up to four years, and their families. The project comprises a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team and works in close partnership with a range of local Statutory, Voluntary and Community service providers to promote effective service delivery in response to the needs of the expectant parents, children and families across the designated SureStart areas.

Sure Start services are provided from 3 centre bases across the localities, within the home setting or through outreach activities to local pre-school, Church and Community settings.

As a Family Support Practitioner, you'll play a key role in supporting parents, both mothers and fathers, on their journey through early parenthood and beyond. This role specifically focuses on the delivery of evidence based, tailored and holistic interventions to give children the best possible start in life. As a Family Support Practitioner you'll deliver SureStart services which support the development of early relationships between parents and children, good parenting skills and family functioning,

As a Family Support Practitioner you'll be:

- Undertaking a range of home visits including promotional visits and visits to provide emotional and practical support to parents.
- Utilising training opportunities to support your role in working with families.
- Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide a range of tailored services
- Being responsible for the planning, development and delivery of individual and group-based services including evaluation of the services you provide, gathering and processing service-user feedback and reflection on areas for development.
- Developing open, honest and non-judgemental relationships with families.
- Being an approachable Practitioner within the team who is willing to share learning and expertise as well as take a lead with team members in offering peer support and guiding or directing staff and volunteers where necessary.

What You'll Bring:

Our job description for the Family Support Practitioner outlines the requirements of the role but the ‘must-haves' are:

- Diploma Level 3 in Childcare or equivalent relevant qualification.
- Experience working with expectant parents / families with children aged under 4 years of age.
- A passion or interest in working with families.
- Experience in managing cases, in accordance with agreed procedures and completing assessments, planning and reviews to ensure positive outcomes.
- A thorough understanding of child protection and safeguarding.
- Knowledge of the importance of early brain development
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage with people of all ages and backgrounds to build strong and collaborative relationships.
- Strong record keeping skills.
- Good IT skills.
- The ability to travel across Antrim and Ballymena on a regular basis. The job requires the ability to travel according to the needs of the job, with reasonable adjustments, if required, according to the Equality Act.

Working here is so much more than a job. Whether this is a career change for you or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you.

We work together to reach our vision of safe and happy childhoods. A diverse workforce enriches the lives of the children and young people we work with and we welcome applications from everyone. We value and celebrate our differences and as an inclusive workplace we want everyone to be themselves.

We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users; therefore, all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best-practice.

We can't wait to hear from you – stay safe and happy.

Application Process: There are 5 sections for you to complete, Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration. Top Tip... Refer to the job description when writing your Supporting Statement.

Interview Date: Tuesday, 3rd May 2022– this date can change in special circumstances, but we do our best to stick to this.

Talent Pool: We'd like to hold your details in case similar jobs come up but do let us know if you'd rather we didn't.

Contact: Emma Goodwin on 01923 361725 who will be happy to support with your application.