Futures Matters Intensive Support Worker

Job Introduction

The Intensive Prevention Service forms part of Futures Matters which is made up of differing teams who support children and families of Staffordshire. Within the service area there is the Intensive Prevention Service, Youth offending Service, Saplings and Prevention, Family Group Conference Service, Breathing Space and the Child Exploitation Team.

The Intensive Prevention Service provides intense support to children who are on the edge of care to remain living at home, we also support young people to return home following a period of being cared for by us, as we believe children are best cared for by their own family where it is safe to do so. The underpinning methodology is solution focussed drawing upon relational and strength-based models of intervention targeted to meet the specific needs of the family.

The Intensive Support Workers are responsible for supporting young people (8-18 years of age) and their parents to develop a tailored package of support, drawing upon other resources within the team as appropriate to remain or return home to their family.

The team will work in partnership with Social Work teams, Family Support Teams and other professionals including the 3rd Sector. The team is based in Stafford but works across the county and on occasion outside of Staffordshire.

It is important that applicants have significant experience of working with children/young people and their families within their own homes delivering a variety of interventions/direct work to address presenting issues.

This is a fabulous opportunity to work within a passionate, creative, supportive, and highly motivated team who make a real difference and be apart of a team whom have a range of specialist skills (e.g., NVR, CBT, Solution Focussed and more) including a Young Persons Substance Misuse Worker. This means we can engage the right support and external services, in a tailored way, to suit the needs of each young person and their family.

This is a 12 month secondment/fixed term post as a result of a member of staff taking a career break.

For more information about this vacancy or for an informal chat please contact Kirsten.booth@staffordshire.gov.uk or 07815 999066

Main Responsibilities

As an intensive Support Worker you will

• Work with children and young people, their families, and carers to maintain positive relationships, providing high support and high challenge to effect changes in family dynamics to promote stability at home.
• \to be able to work flexibly which includes working weekends on a rota basis and in an evening to support the children and families that you are working with.
• Work restoratively with families, offering an intense and a robust package of support for young people and their families where there is a risk of family breakdown. This may be as a result of Adverse Childhood Experiences, relationship difficulties or where exploitation is a significant risk.
• Take responsibility for the accurate recording of all work undertaken on the electronic file in keeping with the agreed timeframes within IPS/Futures Matters
• Use IT resources as required
• You will participate in all team meetings, training, the duty system and in developing the service.

The Ideal Candidate

As a Futures Matters Intensive Support Worker, you must have:

• A Level 3 NVQ Childcare qualification.
• Evidence of supporting children and their families within their homes, delivering direct work and being creative in the way that you work to engage children and their families to enable them to remain or return to the care of their family.
• Access to a car at all times where mileage and an essential car allowance is paid.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Silver Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.