About Us
Pause is a dedicated service to support birth parents in West Sussex. The focus will be to work with women who have experienced - and are at risk of - repeat pregnancies that result in children needing to be removed from their care. They do not currently have children in their care. The programme gives women a chance to 'pause' and take control over their lives, breaking a destructive cycle that causes both them and their children significant trauma. It is a strengths-based and relationship-based programme, which aligns with the principles of the Family Safeguarding Model. The programme improves outcomes for women involved, as well as reducing huge costs to society and the taxpayer.
After a successful four-year pilot of the programme, we have now established our permanent Pause team. As well as offering core model of intensive, relationship-based support to women at most risk of repeat removals, the service is developing to consider how we offer support to more birth parents. Alongside this the service will share the learning from this work across our services to improve relationships and therefore outcomes for our children and their families.
The Opportunity
Salary: £ 46,731 to £49,764 per annum
Contract Type: Fixed term contract with the potential for the role to become permanent
Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week
Location: Based at Bridge House, Worthing but travel Countywide is a necessity. (Some hybrid working with expectation to be office based to support the team 3 days per week)
As the programme lead, you will provide leadership to ensure the implementation and delivery of an integrated package of therapeutic and practical support for women. This is specifically designed to address the complex needs of women to enable change in their lives and ultimately reduce the numbers of children born into care.
You will lead a small team of practitioners, to coordinate and develop effective partnerships and influence other agencies and stakeholders to meet our corporate and practice objectives.
You will lead the further development of the service beyond the core model to reach more parents, as well as to contribute to system change within West Sussex. This is a new area of innovation and growth that you will have the opportunity to pilot and develop.
You will need to understand the circumstances that result in children being removed from their families of origin and be passionate about making a difference in their lives. You will need to have tenacity to support the team to reach out to those who may have been considered 'hard to engage'.
You will be able to focus on the detail as well as the big picture and see the contribution this work can make on an individual basis as well as systemically.
You will be reflective and approachable; this work can be extremely emotionally challenging, and you will have a role to contain and hold the team as they walk alongside parents who have suffered significant loss.
You will need to be able to travel independently to various locations around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. There is a regular and intrinsic requirement to communicate in English with members of the public.
About you
Just some of the key skills and experience you will need to be successful in the role include:
* The ability to make decisions and use your own initiative to guide the team. You will need to be consultative and have highly developed communication and negotiation skills to deal with complex and sensitive issues. You should also be able to influence the actions and persuade them of the specific course of action to gain the best possible outcome.
* The ability to diagnose, research, analyse and interpret complex or technical information to make effective and robust judgements that form the basis for written reports. Ensuring that business implications are considered to make articulate recommendations.
* Significant experience of working with vulnerable people in a multi-agency
setting and working in partnership with those agencies.
* Experience of working with families and individuals who present with a range of complex needs and be able to demonstrate the ability to create rapport and build effective relationships.
* The ability to take responsibility for meeting the programme objectives, keeping to a specific budget with specific targets for intervention.
* Effective people and performance management skills and the ability to provide direction and motivate and inspire the team. As well as providing case management and supervision to the team.
* You will need to be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. Pool cars and pool bikes are available.
For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description.
Rewards & Benefits
As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do. Upon joining us you will have access to a range of benefits including:
* an excellent local government pension scheme
* generous holiday entitlement of 30 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
* a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
* maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
* volunteering opportunities
* training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
* a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
* health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans
For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further information
The reference number for this role is CAFHE05561 .
To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter. In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.
Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.
We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.
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