Early Help Professional (FTC 12 months)

(Any successful internal candidate will be offered the position as a secondment and, in line with Section 8.1 of the Secondment Policy, must consult with their manager before applying.)

The Early Help Service consists of a multi-disciplinary team that works with children, young people, and families. We work closely with a range of partners including children’s social care, schools, housing and health providers and other community services.

Here, in Bracknell Forest, everything we do is about changing families’ lives for the better. You will be supported to help children and families to achieve their potential, ensure their voices are heard and that they are safe and protected. As part of the Early Help service, you will be given responsibility right from the start, alongside which you will be given the support to utilise your skills and experiences to ensure families and young people receive the best possible support, because we are Bracknell Forest.

What it's like working in our team...

You will be part of the council’s Early Help service with experience working with families, young people and children with a range of needs. As a team you will contribute to our ‘can do’ approach by being flexible and responsive to the unique needs of each family, child and young person you are supporting. You will need to combine the ability to work both independently and collaboratuively, supporting team colleagues and representing the service where this is required.

You will be supported to carry out the following duties, responsibilities and training...

To manage a caseload of families who may have complex and unique needs and linking them to a range of universal and targeted services, taking into account their individual and cultural experiences.
To undertake and oversee comprehensive family assessments and develop supportive interventions that reflect the needs identified, taking into account your duty safeguard vulnerable adults and children.
To establish and maintain effective and collaborative working relationships with statutory and voluntary agencies to ensure a consistent and high standard of service for families in the borough.
To deliver programmes and group work where appropriate and co-ordinate a Team Around the Family approach that enables children, young people, and families to be resilient and make positive life choices
To work closely and creatively with the local communities, voluntary organisations, childcare and education provisions (0-19 years), and partner agencies to establish and connect to appropriate services for care and support.
To work within established procedures for handling and assessing information, notably confidentiality, safeguarding and health and safety, undertaking risk assessments where appropriate and ensuring appropriate and timely support packages.

The benefits you will experience are...

An inclusive and social working environment
Flexible working opportunities including a flexi-time scheme.
Generous annual leave entitlement.
Regular opportunities for development with internal and external training courses.
A great office location next to travel links and the regenerated town centre.
Internal sports and social club opportunities.
Discounted leisure centre and gym membership.
Supermarket discount.
An interest free loan for a rail season ticket.

What we're looking for...

The role includes, although is not limited to:

creating positive and engaging relationships with families, children and young people
responding to identified needs and seeking additional advice and support from professional and community networks where specialist knowledge or experience as required.
operating with a high level of care across all relevant agencies and services to ensure that children’s and adults safeguarding thresholds are adhered to, with particular regard to criminal exploitation, domestic abuse.
Good knowledge of local support groups within the borough to enable community integration and settlement support
maintaining accurate and comprehensive case records and deliver and review individual and family support plans in line with service standards and case recording protocols and GDPR requirements.

Key relationships

Proven experience of building collaborative, sustainable and effective relationships with relevant professional networks including schools, housing, adult services, health services, children’s social care, third sector, other council services that have touch points with early help.

Behaviours

Ability to think creatively to solve problems and inspire others, by example, to be innovative.
Ability to prioritise your workload that places service users and their voice at the centre of decision making.
Ability to challenge practice and where necessary implement support mechanisms that enable practitioners to flourish and develop.
Ability to provide concise, accurate and informative written reports and verbal updates.
Ability to lead by example and respond confidently to situations to deliver high quality services.
Ability to both work as a self-motivated individual and a team player, creating an inclusive working environment.

Experience

Experience of operating within the principles of Team Around the Family/ Child, where advocacy, complexity and vulnerability are features.
Experience of building effective and collaborative working relationships with stakeholders and multi-disciplinary teams to achieve good outcomes for families, young people and children.
Experience of responding pro-actively to operational changes, both seen and unseen demand requires.
Experience of arranging multi-agency meetings with and on behalf of service users.
Experience of responding to safeguarding concerns and risks of vulnerable adults and children is a crucial aspect of all work undertaken.
Experience of managing and mitigating risk in the context of whole family working.

Interview date

Interviews will be held 4th December 2023

Want to ask us a question?

For an informal discussion or to ask any questions about this role, please contact:

Laura Branchett, Early Help Hub Team Leader

Tel.: 01344 354382

Bracknell Forest Council is recognised as a Disability Confident Employer, working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. Please let us know if you need any adjustments at any point during the recruitment process.

As part of the Council’s ongoing commitment to redeployment, please note that we reserve the right to close the advert before the closing date if a suitable redeployee is identified.

We can only accept applications from candidates currently residing in the UK.

Any candidates that are currently residing in the UK and wishing to apply who would require sponsorship can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for the role by assessing their circumstances against the relevant criteria.

No agencies please.