Adolescent Safeguarding Manager

We now have the following job opportunity available in our Adolescent Safeguarding Team and we would be delighted to receive your application to continue our story.

We are enhancing our offer to young people at risk of contextual harm, violence and exploitation in our Specialist Adolescent Service by increasing the number of social workers and creating or maintaining teams dedicated to different areas of specialism. We have the Adolescent Safeguarding Team that delivers statutory social work assessments and plans; the SHIFT practice who deliver long term and robust social work and systemic led services with young people who require this level of intervention; Project X who deliver a range of targeted youth work activities; the ASPIRE team who offer prevention support to children in primary school, those at risk of exclusion and who have been victims of bullying or violence; the Youth Justice Team who deliver statutory services with children in the criminal justice system and the Health and Wellbeing Hub who deliver substance misuse and sexual exploitation interventions. 

The Adolescent Safeguarding Manager supervises and supports a team of 5 social workers (including at least one senior social worker) to deliver statutory social work with adolescents aged 13-17 who have been referred to the service due to contextual harm (in particular child criminal or sexual exploitation and serious youth violence). 

As the Adolescent Safeguarding Manager you will review contacts and referrals across a wide spectrum of contextual safeguarding needs, including children who may be persistently missing, have been coerced into sexual or criminal exploitation, have been violent to other children or experienced serious youth violence in the community, at risk due to online activity or grooming, including radicalisation. These children may have additional learning needs or be out of education, struggling with housing needs and may have previous social care involvement and difficult home lives pushing them into unsafe relationships in the community. 

The team works closely with police, education and health partners to hold strategies and deliver robust responses to harm in the community. Your role will be to respond to referrals in a timely manner, allocating assessments and chairing strategies as required. You will support social workers to identify risk and establish safety early on in the assessment and carry out investigations as required. 

Workers will hold children with child-in-need or child protection plans as appropriate. AfC has a Risk Outside the Home plan available for children at the threshold of child protection but where the risk is predominantly outside the home. We work with families and partners (including outreach providers) to keep children at home where this is safe to do so. If interventions are not working then children may be considered for the SHIFT team to provide a robust long-term intervention, prior to court or care proceedings if possible. 

You will ensure that visits are carried out as required and that social workers deliver meaningful direct work and interventions. As the manager you will be passionate and skilled at working with adolescents who present with trauma-led behaviours and will be able to role model best practice with workers. 

For further information about this role, please contact Kathy Walker by email kathy.walker@achievingforchildren.org.uk for an informal discussion.