Children and Families Department
Organisation: Leicestershire County Council
Work Location: County Hall Glenfield LE3 8RA
Worker Category: Fixed Location Worker
Salary: £31.074 -£41.373 per annum (pro-rata for part-time), including market Premium
Working Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract Type: Fixed term /Secondment for 12 months (Maternity Cover)
Closing Date: 28th April 2025
Interview Date(s): 12th May 2025
About the Role
We have a fantastic opportunity for a full time Assessing Social Worker to join our Kinship Assessment team on a secondment opportunity for 12 months, committed to achieving the very best outcomes for our children to have the opportunity to remain in the care of their birth family (wherever safe to do so) - through the completion of comprehensive and analytical Friends and Family assessments (both initial viability assessments and the full Form C Kinship/SGO assessments).
We are recruiting a social worker who has at least 2 years statutory social work experience including safeguarding, direct work and the completion of high quality, specialised fostering assessments. Our team is committed to creating a safe, compassionate and reflective environment demonstrated through relationship-based practice built on trust, respect, support and empathy. We achieve this through a spirit of curiosity, by nurturing connections through relationships, making a conscious effort to know and understand people, and by providing hope for growth and recovery.
An enhanced DBS check is required for this post.
About You
To apply for this post, you must:
1. A Social Work degree or equivalent, e.g. CQSW, DipSW (with specialism in children's services), and hold two years recent post-qualification experience of working in a statutory setting including Safeguarding, Court and Pre-proceeding work.
2. A proven experience of coordinating multi-agency work to support children using formal outcome-focused plans, and experience of applying an evidence-based approach to practice, such as the Signs of Safety approach.
3. An in-depth knowledge and ability to apply relevant policies, appropriate legislation, government guidance and best practice in all aspects of social work including LSCB procedures - with specific awareness of the Fostering Regulations and guidance.
4. An awareness of the cultural, racial, linguistic and religious background of children, young people and families and how to build effective responses into service delivery. You will need to comprehensively assess, anticipate, and support carers to manage risk, developing child-focused therapeutic parenting skills to achieve positive outcomes for children to remain within their birth family - wherever safe to do so.
5. A proven ability to communicate (both verbally and written using Microsoft Office and database applications relevant to the department) thoughtfully, confidently and with purpose across all levels of service users (including children, young people, parents/carers, colleagues and other multi-agencies and professionals), sustaining engagement with people in fluctuating circumstances and capacities.
6. Have comprehensive knowledge of the factors and influences which can impact on families and children achieving positive outcomes including child development, attachment and neglect, and parental factors such as substance misuse, domestic abuse and mental health.
7. Use your initiative, be able to prioritise, and offer flexibility to manage competing workloads and deadlines to ensure effective team working, with an ability to travel to locations throughout the County (and where needed across the country) working outside of office hours when required.
You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion.
In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.
Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.
Interested in Flexible Working?
We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.
For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:
Rebecca Allen - Team Manager
Telephone: 01163054847
Email: Rebecca.Allen@leics.gov.uk
How to Apply
Leicestershire County Council is an inclusive organisation which is on a journey to embed and celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion at every level. We warmly welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, as having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values and enriches the services we offer our communities. We particularly welcome applicants from Ethnically Diverse and LGBTQ+ communities and people with disabilities to create a balanced workforce and one that reflects the communities we serve.
To apply for this job, please click on the apply button. You will need to upload a supporting statement as part of your application which explains how you meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
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