Supporting children to stay safely connected with the people who matter most
Make a difference where it matters most
At Brighton & Hove City Council, we believe that safe, meaningful relationships are central to a child’s wellbeing. We are looking for compassionate, skilled, and committed individual to join our team as Family Time Contact Supervisor, supporting children and families to maintain and rebuild relationships during challenging periods.
This is a rewarding opportunity to play a vital role in children’s lives—helping to create safe, positive experiences of family time that support emotional wellbeing and long-term outcomes.
About the role
As a Family Time Contact Supervisor, you will facilitate and supervise contact sessions between children and their parents or family members, ensuring these are safe, child-centred, and supportive.
You will:
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Provide supervised family time sessions in contact centres and community settings
- Observe and record interactions clearly, objectively, and factually
- Support children to feel safe, comfortable, and listened to
- Promote positive parenting behaviours and encourage healthy relationships
- Manage challenging situations professionally and calmly
- Work closely with social workers and other professionals to support care planning
You’ll be a key part of ensuring children’s voices are heard and their experiences are accurately reflected in decision-making.
What we’re looking for
We’re seeking individuals who bring both professional skill and emotional intelligence to this sensitive and impactful role.
Essential criteria
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Experience working with children, young people, or families, ideally within safeguarding or social care setting
- Strong understanding of child protection and safeguarding principles
- Ability to observe, assess, and record interactions objectively and accurately
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including with people in distress or conflict
- Ability to remain calm, professional, and resilient in emotionally demanding situations
- A child-centred approach with a strong commitment to equality and inclusion
- Good organisational skills and the ability to work flexibly
Desirable qualities
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Knowledge of issues affecting vulnerable families (e.g. domestic abuse, substance misuse, trauma)
- Experience facilitating or supervising contact sessions
- Experience of maintaining professional boundaries
- Ability to build rapport quickly with people who find it difficult to trust professionals
- An understanding of restorative, strengths-based, or trauma-informed practice
Why join Brighton & Hove?
At Brighton & Hove City Council, you’ll be part of a forward-thinking, inclusive organisation committed to improving outcomes for children and families.
We offer:
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A meaningful role with clear social impact—helping children maintain vital family connections
- A supportive team environment with access to regular supervision and training
- Opportunities for professional development within children’s services
- A commitment to wellbeing, diversity, and inclusion
The impact you’ll make
Every supervised session you support contributes to a child’s sense of identity, belonging, and stability. Your work will:
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Help children maintain important relationships safely
- Support families to rebuild trust and connection
- Provide vital evidence to inform care decisions
- Contribute directly to better outcomes for vulnerable children including reunification with their family
This role is a permanent role, 30 hours a week
We aim to hold interviews within three weeks of the closing date.
There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact
[email protected] (Senior Social Worker) /
[email protected] (Team Manager)
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).
Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
- be connected
- be confident
- be innovative and creative
- be diverse and inclusive
- be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.
How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
