The Opportunity
Salary: £43,454 to £55,984 per annum (market supplements included)
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week, Mon -Fri with some evening/weekend work
Location: Based at Bridge House, Worthing.
A unique and exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Social Worker to join our Fostering Project Team.
The Project team runs two fostering initiatives; The ‘REACH’ Programme is a West Sussex project which stands for Re-connecting a child to family and community life, and The Mockingbird Programme, a national programme based on bringing carer families together to form a community of support. For further details on both projects, please review the documents attached below alongside the job description.
Through the REACH project, you will work alongside a small and experienced team to provide support to children to make a successful move from residential care into a local fostering family, you will also provide support and strategies to existing foster households to prevent unnecessary moves for children.
Within the Mockingbird Programme, you will work alongside the Liaison Worker to support our three constellations, running adult groups and family social days with a range of kinship and foster carers, their children and young people and promote the expansion of the Mockingbird programme within West Sussex.
You will need to be able to travel and work flexible hours attending weekend events on a regular basis and working occasional evenings.
All our work is undertaken in the community with carers, it is therefore essential you have a passion and skills to work directly with children and carers. Ideally you will be experienced and knowledgeable in trauma informed approaches which underpin all our work. You will need excellent communication and interpersonal skills and be able to draw on your social work knowledge in supporting carers who are caring for children who have experienced trauma and loss and be passionate about making a long-term difference.
About You
Some of the key skills and experience required for this role include:
1. Analysis and interpretation of complex information and data to enable prioritisation and support in planning next steps.
2. Work as part of a team and partnership with key stakeholders to assess needs and implement outcomes.
3. Communicate effectively to all audiences, both written and orally and negotiated and persuade where necessary.
4. recognised Social Work qualification e.g. Degree in Social Work, Post Graduate Certificate in Social Work, DipSW, CQSW or equivalent as recognised by the relevant professional body.
5. Completed relevant post qualifying training, have evidence of at least one year’s experience post qualification and be registered with the relevant professional body.
6. Knowledge of Social Work theory and practice, with demonstrable examples of working with a breadth of complex situations, for example, attachment, impact of developmental trauma and child development, motivational interviewing, relational practice, solution-focussed interventions and systemic working. A good understanding of anti-oppressive, anti-discriminatory and anti-racist practice in social work.
7. You will need to be able to travel independently around the country, 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 attached.
About Us
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.
For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee, please visit our page.