The Family Participation Service offers a broad range of services to empower and support families to make decisions and plans that affect theirs and their children’s lives. This is consistent with Tower Hamlets Better Together model of social work and the value placed on community, collaboration and co-producing. Our borough residents of all ages can utilise our service from FGCs, in the domain of child protection and beyond, accessing advocates when in child protection, and access mediation through Reducing Parental Conflict. Our Lifelong Links service is enabling children to rebuild relationships with family members and important people in their lives, as they get older. There are no international boundaries to this work. This means that children are developing a greater sense of identity, security and support networks into adulthood, and risks of isolation are reduced.
The role
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is currently recruiting Family Group Conference Advanced Practitioner to support the Family Participation Service Manager in delivering FGCs, building our advocacy service and in continuing our commitment to ensuring every child we care for is offered the opportunity of a referral to Lifelong Links. The Family Participation Service sits within the Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Service. Tower Hamlets is passionate about working with families to find solutions and a safe way forward with them in the difficulties they face; this includes children who are currently, or have previously been, subject to a child protection plan or in care. FGCs are part of our Early help Offer and our Better Together approach in working with our families.
You will join the Local Authority at an exciting time as we continue to strengthen our practice and expand our ambitions. Over the past few years Supporting Families continues its journey as “Good” (Ofsted 2019), remaining ambitious to continue to build on this progress and this post will be crucial to how this momentum is maintained.
The successful candidate will need to have substantial post qualifying experience and direct involvement in developing Family Group Conference and Lifelong Links service provision, and evidence of a commitment to FGCs. The successful candidate will have an ability to win hearts and minds to elicit support for the FGC model from potential referrers, and a commitment to advocacy to ensure participation of children and young people in their FGC and to promote and support all advocacy work referred.
All the successful appointees will need to have ambition, vision and a strong and proven work ethic. The appointees will need to match the ambition of the Authority in continuing to develop and strengthen practice in a busy and challenging Safeguarding environment.
Please see job description on advert link for full details
Tower Hamlets offers the best of London in one borough.
We believe the best place for children is to be raised within their own families, immediate or wider, wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so. Social Workers are at the core of our work with children and families. Our approach is about enabling social workers to build relationships and strengthen families by working with people in a compassionate and understanding way.
We are determined to continue our journey of improvement and deliver outstanding services for children and families of Tower Hamlets, and our offer to staff includes:
The opportunity to work in a richly diverse, challenging and supportive inner London Borough
Competitive remuneration package
Investing in the workforce with end-to-end career support
A manageable and diverse caseload and good quality reflective supervision
Steps to Success, coaching, and bespoke learning and development support from the Learning Academy to develop your practice, with a clear framework for career development and progression into leadership.
Travel card/season ticket loan, Cycle to Work scheme, Local Government Pension Scheme
Opportunities for agile/flexible working
Discounted gym membership, access to free eye test, rent deposit scheme and & You at Work discounts as well as many other benefits
Generous annual leave package and wellbeing service
Smarter Working with new modern technology
If you have any questions about applying for this role, please contact Saima Tahsin, Project Officer at Saima.Tahsin@towerhamlets.gov.uk. For an informal discussion about working in Supporting Families at Tower Hamlets please contact Sam Nair, our Principal Social Worker at Sam.Nair@towerhamets.gov.uk