Senior Social Worker - Assessment & Intervention

Assessment and Intervention / Referral team. Undertake S17 Child and Family Assessments Undertake S47 Child Protection Enquiries

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE JOB

1. To provide high quality casework and service to vulnerable children and families, ensuring social work practice is in the best interest of children.

1. Safeguard children, and improve outcomes for children in terms of their health, education, social and emotional well-being. This involves providing a service to users that ensures that assessments, care plans and actions are in place to promote the longer term safety, welfare and well-being of children and young people, enabling them to maximise their life chances.

1. Provision of social work services, working with individual service users, providing early help, undertaking assessments, interventions and reviews, in line with professional frameworks and National Performance indicators and other relevant local and national guidance, for children in need, those subject to child protection and criminal justice processes, looked after children and care leavers and their carers; providing advice, assistance, counselling and other forms of personal assistance with the aim of empowering, enhancing and protecting individual welfare.

1. Contribute, as an active member to a positive team culture, to achieve the objectives of the service, working with Restorative Practice as our overarching analytical practice framework.

1. Be a positive role model for children and families and build partnerships with others to work collaboratively.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Prioritise and respond to requests for assistance, establishing sufficient information about the needs of clients so as to be able to determine the level of risk and the nature and type of support required.

1. Maintain accurate case records to include information and analysis, and fulfil national timescales, procedures and statutory duties in line with national and local policies, practices and procedures.

1. Carry out assessments of needs and risk, and liaise with other specialists and agencies as necessary, and enable them to be involved and contribute to the process.

1. Ensure that assessments, planning and interventions pay particular attention to individual needs, strengths and wishes, and include critical reflection and analysis, aims, and options to achieve change. Develop and progress care plans as necessary, ensuring that care plans include clear statements of purpose, change, outcome and impact for child and family social work.

1. Undertake at all times to work respectfully and collaboratively with service users, and take into account the views of children, young people and their carers and to facilitate inclusive practice to ensure participation is achieved.

1. Initiate, chair and participate in reviews, cases conferences and other professional meetings, and provide reports as required. Undertake court work as required.

2. Negotiate with users, carers and internal and external partners concerning the methods to meet the needs identified by each assessment. Plan services to meet individual needs in cooperation with children and families; to form trusted and effective working relationships with relatives, carers, friends, health and colleagues from other agencies [e.g. education, health, police, employers, and housing].

1. Assist and enable users and carers to play a full part by extending to them advice, support, consultation and guidance and arrange advocacy services, and escalating issues, where necessary.

1. Work within budgetary limits laid down by Council policy and to operate within the Financial Regulations and Standing Orders of the Council. Inform the line manager of specific needs which cannot be met because of the unavailability of services or because of limits to budgetary provision.

1. Maintain awareness of current research findings and ensure all assessments and plans are informed by research and evidence.

1. Actively engage with supervision and review / appraisal arrangements and be able to receive, critically reflect and learn from feedback, to review and develop the capabilities and competencies as set out in the Person Specification as required. Participate in the creation and implementation of a personal training plan in conjunction with management.

1. Ensure that services are efficiently and effectively provided and identify gaps in services and advise managers accordingly. Actively seek out feedback on services.

1. Promote an awareness of, and commitment to, the Council’s equal opportunities policy in relation to both employment and service delivery.

1. Ensure full compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Acts, the Council’s Health & Safety policy and all locally agreed safe methods of work.

1. Participate in the planning and delivery of service duty and cover arrangements.

1. Maintain confidentiality and apply data protection requirements.

KNOWLEDGE

1. Working knowledge of the framework within which social care operates, inclusive of legislation and national guidance and procedures specific to this post

1. Knowledge and understanding of how professional social work practice is quality assured and ability to integrate this

1. National minimum standards for Children’s Social Care, Knowledge and Skills requirements and their implications for practice

4. Knowledge of statutory work with children, including children in need, child protection, children looked after and court work. Knowledge of different types of interventions in family support

1. Knowledge of diverse communities and their needs. Understanding of patterns of discrimination and methods of redressing them

1. Knowledge of IT systems used in social care

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

1. A nationally recognized social work qualification

2. Current or expected registration with social work England

3. At least 1 year of post-qualifying experience in a statutory Children’s Social Care setting

4. IT literate in Word and Excel, and willing to undertake further training as necessary