Advanced Social Work Practitioner – Looked After Children - Rotherham, South Yorkshire
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, Children and Young People’s Services
Salary details: £43,570 & excellent benefits (pay award pending)
Permanent, 37 hours per week.
We have an Advanced Practitioner opportunity to work in our Looked After Children (LAC) Service.
Closing 5th June 2022
Shortlisting: w/c 6th June 2022
Interviews: w/c 13th June 2022
ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY
Our Children and Young People’s Service are currently recruiting for an Advanced Practitioner, the “practice experts” in one of the long-term Looked After Children’s Teams.
Linking to the Principal Social Worker across the whole social care function, they play a key role in the development of other Social Workers and achieving the best possible practice standards for Rotherham children.
Developing learning solutions that enable specialisms in practice, designing and delivering bespoke packages of training; they will create a culture of learning and coaching that provides Social Workers with skills as trainers, mentors and coaches.
Advanced Practitioners in Rotherham will:
have a case-load of no more than 40% of other social workers in the team
offer mentoring and development work for other Social Workers, including carrying out observed practice, direct teaching and co-working
embed Signs of Safety and Restorative Practice approaches in practice
develop their own practice and skills in training, coaching and mentoring and use these in operational teams, working with between six or seven other Social Workers, under supervision of Team Managers
lead (with peers) on the practice development agenda across the organisation, as a part of an Advanced Practitioner network led by the Principal Social Worker
The Advanced Practitioner in LAC will be responsible for providing support to the team of Social Workers, under the supervision of the Team Manager, with a focus on:
Children and Young People who are subject to Care Orders and their permanency planning
Supporting Young People with their transition and journey to leaving care.
Developing, implementing, and reviewing complex care packages to ensure that a Looked After Child's needs are met.
Direct and life story work with children and young people.
Rehabilitation of children and young people to family where safe to do so.
Exit from care through other forms of permanence including Rotherham's Right Child Right Care Strategy.
Key benefits of working at Rotherham Council’s Children and Young People’s service are:
Low case loads
Strong support from Managers
You will be developed into an excellent practitioner. All Social Care Professionals will be trained extensively in the ‘Signs of Safety’ operating model (15 day programme) and Restorative Practice approaches
Early Help provision is strong, which is now reducing the demand for social care and supporting professionals with creative options for service users
Investment has been secured to ensure our most challenging young people have access to high quality therapeutic support
Edge of Care Services
Looked After Children are prioritised for CAMHS assessment and intervention
Career Pathway
The opportunity to make a real difference to the children and families in need of care.
Now is the time to come and work for Rotherham Council Children and Young People’s Service. Help us achieve our ambition to become outstanding – be part of our improvement journey and the transformational change that we are making. We are committed to making sure that every child makes the best start in life and we are striving to become a child-friendly borough. Rotherham is a great place to live and work.
Our USP is the quality and extent of the 15 day training offer for Signs of Safety, using action research as the tool to embed the learning. We want excellent practitioners to help transform social work practice in Rotherham by generating a movement where excellent practice is the norm, resulting in consistently better outcomes for all our children. These are in accordance with our ambition to become a leading children’s services authority.
ABOUT YOU
We are seeking talented and inspirational professionals who can:
Innovate to help re-define children’s services
Promote a learning and coaching culture
Develop the skills and practices of our Social Care team to provide an outstanding service to children and young people
Add value and make the most of available resources
Our vision is for the children and families of Rotherham to routinely experience and describe the services they receive from us, as outstanding and we intend to do that by putting the child first in everything we do.
By working with our Children’s Social Care teams you will play a crucial role in developing your skills and practice and our collective commitment to an ethos of excellence, integrity, trust and transparency. Joining us at a time of change with regard to developing practice model provides you with an opportunity to be involved and influence the service design and development of practice in line with methodological approaches.
With new leadership in place and a heartfelt commitment to providing a best practice centre of excellence, you will play a vital role in building on our performance culture - providing direction and support that is rewarding in every sense, for every individual.
ABOUT YORKSHIRE
Rotherham and the wider South Yorkshire region is a great place to live and a stone’s throw from some of the UK’s finest towns and cities, and is home to some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain. Easy to reach from Sheffield or Leeds, there are plenty of places to see, things to do and property is excellent value for money - all within a 2-hour train journey from London.
If you have any questions regarding these opportunities, please email them to childrenssocialcarejobs@rotherham.gov.uk
Or contact our Service Manager: Mick McCarthy on mick.mccarthy@rotherham.gov.uk
This post involves working with children and therefore if successful you will be required to apply for a disclosure of criminal records check at an enhanced level. Further information about the Disclosure Scheme can be found at www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.
From 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2024 employees paid at Band D and above are subject to a temporary pay reduction of 1.15% spread out by means of a weekly / monthly deduction (dependent on pay frequency) from each pay period over the full financial year. In recognition of implementing this temporary measure, those who experience a pay reduction will be awarded of three additional day’s leave (pro rata for part-time).