Are you passionate about empowering families, strengthening relationships, and helping children and young people build lifelong support networks?
We are looking for a motivated, skilled, and compassionate Family Group Conference and Lifelong Links Coordinator to join Durhams innovative Family Group Conference Service.
This is an exciting opportunity to work directly with children, young people, families, carers and professionals to create sustainable family-led plans that promote safety, stability, belonging and positive long-term outcomes.
Youll be joining a supportive team committed to:
- Strengthening families and communities.
- Delivering restorative and relationship-based practice.
- Preventing unnecessary admissions to care.
- Improving permanence, belonging, and lifelong connections for children and young people.
- Supporting professional development and continuous learning
WHAT IS INVOLVED?
As a Family Group Conference (FGC) and Lifelong Links Coordinator, you will work independently with children, young people, and families to identify, strengthen, and reconnect family and community networks.
You will coordinate and facilitate Family Group Conferences and Lifelong Links interventions, supporting families to develop their own plans that address safeguarding concerns and enable children and young people to remain safely within their family networks wherever possible.
What Youll Be Doing
- Lead and coordinate Family Group Conferences and Lifelong Links interventions.
- Work directly with children and young people to capture and represent their views, wishes, and feelings.
- Explore family and community networks to identify potential support systems.
- Prepare families and professionals for meetings, ensuring all participants can engage meaningfully and safely.
- Facilitate meetings that enable families to negotiate and agree robust, future-focused plans.
- Ensure plans are realistic, evidence-based, and address identified safeguarding concerns.
We encourage you to contact Nigel Connah via email at
[email protected] or Lucy Armstrong via e-mail at
[email protected] to arrange an informal discussion about the role.
WHAT WILL I NEED?
Were seeking an individual who:
- Has a Level 3 Health and Social Care or equivalent
- Has experience working with children, young people, and families with complex needs.
- Has experience of promoting the use of family networks.
- Is passionate about relationship-based and restorative practice.
- Has excellent facilitation, engagement, and communication skills.
- Can work independently while managing a diverse and demanding caseload.
- Is confident coordinating meetings involving multiple agencies and family members.
- Has experience of mediation or restorative approaches.
- Can build trust quickly and work effectively in challenging and emotionally sensitive situations.
- Is committed to achieving positive outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.
Please refer to the attached Person Specification for the full criteria.
Optional
If successful, you will be required to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure.
OUR COMMITMENT TO SAFEGUARDING
Durham County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore if successful in your application, an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be sought inclusive of a check of the Childrens Barred List and Adults Barred List, due to the position working in regulated activity. Applicants should be aware that the DBS check will disclose both spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings, in line with current legislation and will confirm whether an individual is barred from working with children, adults, or both.
INTERVIEWS
Interviews will be held on
7th / 8th October 2026
We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that can show they meet all the essential criteria and have indicated they have a disability, are a looked after young person, care leaver or a veteran.
OUR OFFER TO YOU
We offer a competitive rewards package that includes attractive salaries, a generous annual leave entitlement of 27 days (rising to 32 after five years continuous local government service), membership of the excellent contributory career average Local Government Pension Scheme, and a range of flexible working arrangements including hybrid working (home and office) where applicable. Explore the full range of rewards and benefits on our website
Rewards and benefits are subject to individual terms and conditions.
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION
We are a proud equal opportunities employer and believe a diverse workforce brings fresh ideas and drives service improvement. We welcome applications from everyone and make employment decisions based on skills and ability. As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively encourage applications from disabled and neurodivergent people and offer support throughout the recruitment process.
HOW TO APPLY
Please note, we do not accept CVs. All applications must be submitted online via the Northeast Jobs portal. Use the Person Specification section of the form to clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential (and where possible, desirable) criteria. Applications that do not evidence the essential requirements will not be shortlisted.
Please visit our website to understand our position on using AI to support your application and for guidance on completing your application.
If you require assistance when applying for this role, please contact our Recruitment Helpdesk on 03000 26 27 27, or via email
[email protected]
All correspondence relating to your application will be sent from
[email protected]. Kindly check your spam/junk folder regularly to ensure you dont miss any updates.
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