Directorate: Children and Family Services
Section: Children’s Support and Safeguarding
Location: Westfield Children's Centre
Grade: Level 5
Hours: 37 hours per week x 4 and 19.5 hours per week x 1
This advert is open to both internal and external applicants.
The Role:
- To supervise and support family time sessions to a high standard, supporting parents to ensure the sessions are safe and child focused.
- To observe interactions, provide support and parenting interventions where required supporting a positive family time experience.
- To record detailed observations on the systemin a timely and accurate manner.
- To ensure all relevant information is shared with the child’s social worker in a timely way and to prepare detailed reports to court to evidence parenting support and interventions during family time to inform social work interventions and the children’s plans.
- Family time is a significant part of a child’s journey and informs their life story work to enable children in our care to have a good understanding of their identify, relationships and Family timeworkers have a key role in capturing this in the relationships built with the children and their families during this time.
Key Responsibilities:
- To observe the interactions between families and children during supervised family time sessions, provide support, advice, guidance and interventions to families and carers involved in the family time arrangements.
- To work to support parents whose family time is supervised, to provide safe and child focused sessions. This includes assessing any parents attendingfamily time prior to the start and throughout the duration of the session
- in respect of their physical and mental wellbeing to ensure they are presenting appropriately and it is safe for the children and adults involved.
- To provide an efficient and effective service, to adopt a flexible and adaptable approach across whole service as required in order to meet the court directed requirements of children’s family time throughout their childhood if required.
- To provide written evidence and attend court required to provide evidence in person based on your own observation records.
- To liaise with partners and colleagues to ensure that parents and carers are supported in a holistic way and ensure contribution to multi agency meetings and reviews for children when necessary.
About You:
- Excellent oral and written communication skills including the ability to deal with members of the public and staff in a sensitive and appropriate manner.
- Able to develop appropriate restorative relationships with children and their families, with experience of direct work with children, their families and carers
- An understanding of assessment and the legal framework which supports children in our care and the childcare planning process.
- Knowledge and understanding of child development and the impact of trauma on children’s development and behaviours
- Knowledge and understanding of relevant legislative provisions and statutory guidance including GDPR and child protection.
- Knowledge of, and sensitivity to, the needs of vulnerable children and their families.
What we offer:
- A competitive salary based on your skills, experience and talent
- Hybrid and flexible working options
- An excellent local authority benefits pension scheme
- Professional development through learning opportunities, regular training sessions and apprenticeship and management schemes
- Further information on our Rewards and Benefits can be found here
For more information on the role, please contact the Recruiting Manager, Keeley Nocilla, [email protected]
About us:
We are a city of strengths, with a proud heritage and bright future. Working for Stoke-on Trent City Council is more than just a job, it's about making, protecting and improving the services for the local population, reducing inequalities and improving independence for the people who live and work in the city. And that’s where you come in. We are always looking for people of the highest calibre with skills, knowledge and experience to help us deliver our compelling vision.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s diverse and talented workforce is its greatest asset and most valuable resource. The skills, knowledge and experience of our c.4,600employees are essential to delivering our ambitions and vision for our organisation and Stoke-on-Trent. We want to be an employer that people are proud to work for, and where our staff are supported, developed and rewarded in an inclusive way that helps them to excel and to deliver the high-quality services that our residents need.
Further information on the Council and our directorates
Pre-Employment Checks:
Any offer of employment will be subject to the successful completion of required pre-employment checks. These may include:
- Right to Work in the UK
- Proof of address
- Satisfactory references
- Occupational Health Clearance
- Evidence of professional qualifications or registrations
- DBS check at the appropriate level (if applicable for the role)
The Council will not accept any speculative CVs from employment agencies. No agency terms and conditions accompanying any such CVs will be accepted by the Council. Any unsolicited information sent by an employment agency will be treated as the property of the Council.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and we expect all our employees and volunteers to share this commitment. This position is exempt under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the successful applicant will be subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
Please note that if an employee who is currently at risk of redundancy within the organisation applies for this vacancy their application will receive priority. If this happens you will be advised accordingly.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
At Stoke-on-Trent City Council, we believe our strength comes from the diversity of our community,and we want our workforce to reflect that. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and experiences. We understand that some people, especially those from underrepresented or marginalised backgrounds, may hesitate to apply if they don’t meet all the listed requirements. If this role interests you and you think you could be a good fit, we encourage you to apply. We are proud of what makes each of us unique and are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels included, can be themselves, and can succeed together.
To Apply
If you have any queries or want an application form in another format, please email [email protected] or call us on 01782 238189.
- Do you have the Right to Work in the UK?
