Leaving Care Asylum Personal Advisor

Job Title: Leaving Care Asylum Personal Advisor
Starting Salary: £34,434 progressing to £37,280 per annum
Hours: 37 hours per week
Location: Hybrid working – base Farnham house (Stevenage)
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Children's Services

About the team

We have an exciting opportunity within the Separated Migrant Children and Care Leavers Team as Leaving Care Personal Advisor, to support young people transitioning from being Children Looked After to Care Leavers.

The Separated Migrant Children and Care leavers Service supports individuals who have travelled to the UK seeking sanctuary, by way of offering practical and emotional intervention to help provide stability and safety through our duty under the Childrens Act 2004. This includes accommodation, education and training support, health and mental wellbeing input, asylum support and wider access to additional resources and networks within the community to help grow a ‘family’ around each of the young people we work with. We work with our young people from the point of referral into our service (between 12-17 years old), up until they reach 25 years old.

Leaving Care Personal Advisors work with our 18-25 cohort, providing fundamental support, advice and guidance in a range of areas to ensure young people access a smooth transition into adulthood and to have the skills and knowledge to thrive throughout their future.

About the role

As a Leaving Care Personal Advisor, you will work with young adults who are Care Leavers alongside a range of statutory and community services to ensure the best outcomes for those we work with. This includes;

• Working in line with statutory responsibilities set out in the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and the guidance supporting the Children and Social Work Act 2017.
• Holding responsibility for a case load of Care Leavers from the age of 18 to 25.
• Assessing young people’s needs and acting as lead professional, developing clear pathway plans and risk assessments, involving other agencies where appropriate.
• Engaging in effective multi agency working, developing collaborative relationships with agencies, and coordinating support i.e. mental health, substance use, homelessness.
• Engaging with and providing support for young people, including those with significant additional needs to identify and address barriers to personal development, learning and work, particularly during periods of transition.
• Providing direct support to young people preparing to leave care, in order to ensure a smooth and positive transition to independent living.
• Working with young people and their significant others, including family members/carers and others, to enable them to contribute to maximising the young person’s potential.
• Working to agreed targets, monitoring the progress of young people on caseload through regular review, recording data on relevant management information systems to appropriate timescales and standards, producing reports and correspondence as required.
• Keeping up to date with relevant updates in legislation, guidance, policy and procedures in relation to Care Leavers and issues which impact on them i.e. housing, cost of living.
• Working in a trauma-informed way, recognising the sensitive and complex nature of the work we do and the lived experiences of those we support

The duties and responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present. The post holder is expected to accept any reasonable alterations that may from time to time be necessary.

About you

Essential:

• Experience in working directly or indirectly in a support or advisory role with young people/vulnerable adults
• Knowledge of current legislation and guidance relating to safeguarding children and adults
• Experience of multi-agency working with various statutory agencies.
• Ability to build trust, engage and safeguard young people and families; including those that may be parents.
• Ability to use structured assessment tools and plan interventions
• Ability to communicate effectively (in both written and verbal forms) with young people, their families, and other professionals
• Effective skills in organisation, time management and in managing a complex workload
• Competent in using ICT packages relevant to the role to store and present information
• Commitment to own continuous professional development and best practice
• Holding a full driving licence and access to your own vehicle.
• Willingness to engage in training and development specific to asylum processes and assessment frameworks
• Driving licence and access to a vehicle

Desirable

• Experience working directly with asylum seeking or other marginalised groups
• Understanding of asylum processes and legal framework
• Multi-lingual
• Experience of working with Hertfordshire computer systems
• Experience and understanding of the asylum process for Separated Migrant Young people.

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is Level 9. Please locate the job profile here:

Job profiles - Health and social care

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Ahmed Saliu (Ahmed.Saliu@hertfordshire.gov.uk)

Interview Date: 25th May

Benefits of working for us
How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Additional information

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Driving required
You’ll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.