Family Support Worker - Families Together Service

We are seeking experienced, passionate and motivated individuals to be part of our new Families Together service. Due to the nature of this post, this role requires flexible working hours to meet the needs of the service and there will be a requirement to work evenings and weekends.

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About the team.

Solihull Families Together is a small multi-agency team working with children on the edge of care. This new team works with children who are aged between 11-15 years and experiencing significant family breakdown.

Through the consistent and systematic application of restorative practice, Solihull Families Together aim to work with families to achieve greater stability, reduce risk, increase well-being and build resilience. By working in partnership, encouraging and promoting the involvement of children, young people and their families in decision making, we will create opportunities to support and enable families to build and strengthen their capacity to address their own difficulties supporting children to safely live within their family networks.

To enable intensive intervention, Solihull Families together practitioners will work with 4-6 children and their families. All of the children will have an allocated social worker in the statutory social worker team who we will work alongside. Once fully established, the team will consist of two social workers, two senior social workers, two family support workers, a psychologist, a speech and language therapist and a manager. We will have access to specialist exploitation intervention, youth work, money mentors and addiction specialists. Using a ‘team around the worker’ approach, the goal of the families together team is to build meaningful connections with families and support them in the journey towards relational repair. We will do this by reducing the amount of workers visiting the home, and instead upskill one key practitioner to develop a strong working relationship and be a single point of contact. Weekly group supervision sessions will be attended by a range of different professionals to support the holistic consideration of families needs.

About the role.

To be considered for this post you will need to demonstrate:

- Level 3 qualification, e.g. Level 3 Diploma for Children and Young People's Workforce
- Experience of working on a 1-1 basis with children, young people or their families in a social care, educational or voluntary setting
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills to establish collaborative relationships with children and their families, which may be emotionally demanding at times
- Good organisational skills
- Effective team working skills
- Experience of writing reports and knowledge of promoting safeguarding issues are also all essential
- Experience of undertaking assessments, an understanding of the threshold criteria, skills in delivering direct work and interventions that are evidence based are crucial for this role.

You will be a successful team player, experienced in providing timely and effective intensive interventions to support young people aged 12 upwards. You will have a natural ability to build respectful, strong, and effective relationships with parents, carers, and their families as well as external partners, such as schools, School Nursing and Health Visiting.

About Solihull.

In return, we offer the opportunity to work in a motivational and supportive environment where your contribution will be highly valued, and your personal development actively supported. We can offer professional guidance from our recently appointed experienced and supportive management team and the opportunity to further develop your skills.

In addition to a broad suite of high-quality training packages, our people also enjoy a hybrid approach to flexible working, competitive salaries and a generous benefits package that includes a focus on staff wellbeing:

- Flexible working and agile working arrangements
- Access to our Employee Assistance Programme – a 24 hour independent, free, and confidential advice and support service
- Family and carer friendly policies
- Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme
- The opportunity to buy up to 10 days additional leave per year.
- Access to our Employee Assistance Programme – a 24 hour independent, free, and confidential advice and support service

This is an excellent opportunity to be part of a new team here at Solihull at a transformational stage of our improvement journey. If you are ready to join our ambitious team – and make a tangible impact and positive difference to families’ lives at this critical time – then we would be delighted to receive your application.

For an informal discussion, please contact Menna Davies, Service Manager at menna.davies@solihull.gov.uk

Or to find out more about why it’s great working for Children’s Services in Solihull, please click here.

Closing Date – 2nd April 2024

Interview Date - week commencing 8th April 2024

This post will require an enhanced DBS check.