Family Support Worker, Rethinking Families Team
East Sussex are pleased to be recruiting to the posts Senior Family Support Worker and Family Support Worker to come and work for the Rethinking Families Team – an innovative statutory, front line, child protection service working with children and families founded on the key principles of Patricia Crittenden’s Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation. We are looking for dynamic and highly skilled individuals who are strengths based in their practice; value the contribution of families in any process of change and who can work empathically to understand people and their hopes for themselves and their children.
You will need to have extensive experience of working with parents with a complex history of self-protective behaviours which overtime have become harmful to themselves and their children. You will need to be highly skilled in engaging with children and their families who experience professional intervention as threatening and may resist support. You will need to feel confident in delivering a broad range of trauma informed interventions alongside practical support with families exposed to neglect, use of substances, poor mental health, and violent relationships in a context of poverty and social deprivation.
In recognition of the intensity of the work you will have reduced shared caseload with clinical oversight and support. The role is both rewarding and demanding and requires a high level of self-awareness, a commitment to professional development and a proven ability to make use of services and strategies to support your own wellbeing. Due to the nature of the work the role requires, subject to COVID-19 risk assessment, a high level of home visiting and face-face contact. Relationships are at the centre of our work and you will have experience of working closely with other professionals and agencies. You will have the ability to embrace new ways of thinking and working to contribute to the continued development of this service.
You will benefit from becoming part of an expanding DMM community, working alongside Dr Crittenden and others to develop a knowledge and practice base which aims to preserve families where it is safe to do so.
Ideally you will have attended the ESCC Attachment Based Practice Part 1 and Part 2 training.
Relationships are the key to best practice
At ESCC our Connected Practice model creates change through meaningful and helpful relationships with children and families – an approach which focusses on enabling young people to lead safe, stable and fulfilling lives at home with their families.
Our practitioners draw on their own resources to develop effective relationships with vulnerable families and children. By working intensively, and using structured interventions, our social workers help families to solve problems themselves ensuring that children are safer and better nurtured.
Progress your learning and training
At East Sussex we know that our staff are individuals with their own career goals. So we have created a clear career development pathway, known as Progress, which maps out all the different options and opportunities for enriching and developing individual careers. It enables staff to build on existing skills and develop new knowledge and it provides clarity around the requirements for pay and progression, social work registration and further accreditation
Benefits package
In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a wide range of benefits including:
- relocation costs up to £8k, if you are making a move of more than 20 miles
- interest-free loan for rental deposit
- payment of your Social Work England registration fees
ESCC offers a £3k ‘golden hello’ payable to those recruited to specific teams:
- Locality teams in Hastings
- Children’s Disability Service
We’re a family-friendly service which offers flexible working (in agreement with individual line manager) and a focus on wellbeing for all our staff, such as mindfulness training and counselling. Find out more, take a look at the full range of benefits here.
Join us now
Our Social Work practice is high impact. We know we are making a difference because that’s what children and young people tell us and 95% of social workers surveyed would recommend East Sussex as a good place to work. We’ve been awarded the following:
- Judged Outstanding by Ofsted July 2018
- Local Government Association Chronicle Awards for services to children and business transformation
- Silver Award for Best Social Work Employer at the Social Worker of the year Awards 2017
- Teaching Partnership status.
So, if you’d like to be part of our progressive team, apply NOW
For more information about Children's Social work in East Sussex please visit https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/jobs/social-work-with-children/