Job title: Senior Practitioner; Children Looked After 0-16 - Court and Early Permanence Team
Department: Children’s Services
Location: Croydon Council (CR0)
Grade / Salary: Grade 15; £49,890 - £51,903 + £2,000 retention payment
Hours of work: 36 per week / Monday – Friday
Contract type: Permanent
At Croydon Council, we have created Senior Practitioner roles for experienced social workers to remain in practice developing and sharing expertise – could this opportunity be the next move for you?
Job Purpose
The Children Looked After service supports and inspires children looked after and care experienced young people to become their best. We provide social work support for children and young people aged 0-16.
We are developing our focus and specialism for children who are likely to have plans of Adoption, following the conclusion of care proceedings. We are committed to ensuring that these children can be with their growing up families, forming positive attachments, at the earliest possible opportunity. Experience and research is clear that reducing delays and achieving early placement, provides the best foundations and opportunities for these highly vulnerable children to form positive attachments with primary carers, and as a result, achieve the best possible outcomes with growing up families and throughout their childhoods.
We are committed to providing high quality, timely practice for our children on the adoption pathway. We are seeking a Senior Practitioner, skilled in all areas of family assessment work in care proceedings, and in completing Child Permanence Reports. If this sounds like you then we would like to hear from you. You will be a highly skilled communicator, in all forms, with meticulous detail and confidence in writing reports to multiple audiences, especially to children. You will be attuned to and have experience of empathic engagement with birth family members, in sharing sometimes challenging narratives.
Candidates will need to demonstrate exceptional experience, knowledge, skills and ability to work in the court arena and instruct legal colleagues. You will be able to work with a complex and diverse range of needs and risks; and making effective and timely decisions around permanency.
Candidates will need to have good knowledge and understanding of legislative framework, relevant research and national developments, and policies relating to children’s social work in this area of practice.
The Senior Practitioner role works with children with complex needs and supports the Team Managers in providing leadership of practice. We work from a systemic framework and trauma informed perspective.
You will support staff across the teams to develop their practice and develop expertise. As a Senior Practitioner you will have expertise in:
Engaging children and young people and relationship building
Direct work across the age range
Assessment and Care Planning / Pathway Planning
Safeguarding for children in care including extra familial harm
High standard of report writing and case recording
Ability to analyse complex information and make child centred decisions.
Chair multi-professional meetings and co-ordinate support
Delivering to performance standards consistently across the measures within the journey of the child.
Benefits of Working With Us
Highly competitive salary & retention payment of £2,000 giving up to £53,903pa
A pension scheme with an average employer contribution of 20%
31 days annual leave in addition to Bank Holidays
Accredited Systemic Practice training
A range of CPD opportunities
Investment into your staff well-being
Good management support for practitioners, regular supervision, group supervision led by systemic therapists and access to a clinical therapist to support your work directly.
The council promotes a hybrid working where the role allows and a high-quality office base where direct work is delivered from.
We are looking for experienced Senior Practitioners, who also have:
Qualified Social Worker and up to date registered with Social Work England
Foundation level systemic practice qualification - desirable
Practice Educator or Practice Teacher qualification – desirable
Knowledge of national policy, strategy and developments regarding children’s social care, and areas that impact on children’s social care.
Significant experience working with children in care and those who arrived unaccompanied in the UK.
Knowledge of relevant legislation, statutory guidance, standards and procedures.
Knowledge of relevant theoretical frameworks, practice models and research findings.
Knowledge of models of reflective supervision that impact on practice and outcomes.
Able to maintain records that evidence our engagement with children and families, informs the quality assurance framework e.g., quantitative, qualitative and outcome information for the children and families, the views and experiences of children and families
Home to 94,000 children, Croydon is a truly unique place to practice social work. We are a borough with big ambition, grit, and determination. Children's social care was judged ‘good’ in our last Ofsted inspection.
Our systemic practice framework places emphasis on relationships as key to supporting change for families. We make sense of the world through relationships, focusing on the whole family system and thinking about our own part in that too – what we bring, our own family stories and beliefs, how we use ourselves in the work that we do. Our practice model is all about collaboration - with our families, networks and partners; being open to challenge and ensuring our practitioners are highly trained in a variety of intervention approaches. Our established clinical service will support you to grow your own systemic practice within the service, providing accredited training, co-working and direct work with families.
For an informal chat about working in Croydon, contact Agata Stolowska at agata.stolowska@croydon.gov.uk