Early Help Senior Key Worker

Salary range:  Grade 10 £45,123 -£47,262 p.a. plus fantastic benefits Contract: Permanent Hours of work: 36 hours per week Location: Croydon Salary range:  Grade 10 £45,123 -£47,262 p.a. plus fantastic benefits Contract: Permanent Hours of work: 36 hours per week Location: Croydon An exciting opportunity has arisen to join Croydon’s Early Help Family Solutions, as a Senior keyworker within one of our three locality-based teams.  This is a full time permanent post offer. The Family Solutions Service delivers intensive Early Help Key work input over a 6 month period.  This service aims to assist families in recognising and accessing relevant support networks which will enable them to enjoy and achieve a good standard of family life and wellbeing without the need for input from Children’s Social Care. Working within a supportive management structure, you will be responsible for the delivery of ‘whole family’ assessments and interventions using a ‘Team Around the Family’ framework.  Through the use of regular review and management oversight, you will support the progression and achievement of ‘outcomes based’ family plans.  Your work will be highly collaborative in nature, relational in approach and heavily influenced by principles of systemic practice. In addition, the role will provide advice and signposting support to families and partner agencies. Responsibilities entail developing working relationships with voluntary, community and faith groups; attending community network meetings and supporting universal services. The Senior will support new staff members in their induction process; deputise some managerial tasks and chair meetings as required. The service maintains commitment to the delivery of high quality support through intensive partnership working with families and universal provisions.  As a keyworker, you will navigate and broker families’ access to a range of community services including health, education and third sector provisions. Senior Keyworkers work closely alongside locality management, to achieve the delivery of high-quality support for families.  You will receive regular case supervision to support and guide the progression of your work with families.  In addition, you will benefit from exposure to peer input and influences through your engagement in ‘mixed locality’ reflective discussion groups held on a monthly basis. As a service, we are continually seeking to develop our offer and input to children, young people and their families.  We will support you to identify and access opportunities which promote your continuous professional development and enable you to engage with a wide breadth knowledge and learning. About you You will be a skilled, experienced and child-focussed practitioner, with a background of relationship based work with children, young people and their families.  You will be a confident practitioner, with broad understanding of child development.  You will be able to tailor your knowledge to work with families across a wide age range, including expectant parents, early years, secondary transitions, adolescents and preparation for adulthood. You will be proficient in the undertaking of assessments and able to apply ‘whole family approach’ to the identification and understanding of need. We are looking for individuals who are skilled in the building and sustaining of relationships and able to engage families who may be hesitant or reluctant to work with the service. The work carries aspects of risk management due to the complex and often challenging nature of familial circumstances.  As a key work practitioner you will liaise closely with families, management and wider services to identify potential risks and devise relevant ‘safety plans’ where appropriate to do so.  You will carry a mixed caseload of approximately 10 families and manage your work in accordance with Early Help practice standards; whilst also carrying out partnership development work.  Candidates must therefore posse