This is an exciting opportunity to be part of our Safeguarding and Support East team as a permanent social worker with a focus in permanency by progressing children to be placed with their forever family. In this role, you’ll be primarily working with children subject to care and placement orders and will have the opportunity to develop your skills in permanency and adoption .
Purpose of our team
•We know that children thrive best when they are in a safe home environment with carers who meet their needs. Our role is to work with families where they are safeguarding concerns to ensure they meet the needs of their children. Where it is safe to do so, most children are cared for at home by parents and/or relatives. Our team is at the fore front of safeguarding and supporting children so that their needs are met within the home environment but in exceptional circumstances a limited number of children cannot be safeguarded at home, and we work with the families until the children are in a safe environment.
•The safeguarding and support team East is a diverse team and unique in that we have an Advanced Permanency practitioner who progresses children subject to care orders and placement orders to their forever family. This work can be the most rewarding in social work. You will work closely with Adopt West London (Regional Adoption Agency) and our in -house adoption and permanency team.
•The team also consists of frontline students, social workers, and an advanced social work practitioner who specialises within the Court framework.
•As a qualified social worker, you will benefit from the support of an assistant team manager, a weighted case load and an opportunity to work with a team of passionate social workers who are good at what we do. You will benefit from regular and consistent one-to-one supervision and group reflective supervision facilitated by an advanced social worker. Your training will be prioritised, and you will benefit from having a professional development to help you acquire and improve your social work skills.
•We know from our regular case audits that families we work with find our social workers to be helpful, consistent and engage families well.
About You
If the points below resonate with you, we’d love you to put in an application:
1.Ability to communicate with compassion and authority in challenging situations and with resistant individuals.
2.Demonstrate the ability to work within your own organisation and identify and begin to work with the relationship between the organisation, practice, and wider changing contexts.
3.Ensure practice is underpinned by policy, procedures, and code of conduct to promote individual’s rights to determine their own solutions, promoting problem-solving skills, whilst recognising how and when self-determination may be constrained (by the law).
4.Ability to recognise and manage conflicting values and ethical dilemmas, in practice, using supervision and team discussion, questioning, and challenging others, including those from other professions.
5.Ability to provide professional opinion/routinely explain professional reasoning, judgements, and decisions. A ‘people person’ with the ability to communicate key messages effectively.
6.Passionate and have a can-do attitude and can think on your feet.
7. Ability to support children/ carers and adopters with lifestory work.
8.Enhanced DBS check is required.
Read more about the work you’ll be doing in the Role Profile.
Don’t meet every single requirement? We know that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job if they think they can’t tick every box. At Hounslow, we realise the ‘perfect candidate’ doesn’t exist. So, if you can do most of what we’re looking for, go ahead and apply. You may be just the right candidate for the job or be perfect for one of our other roles!
The London Borough of Hounslow is a vibrant, exciting place to visit, stay and explore, with many hidden gems. Miles of rivers – including the Thames, canals, nature reserves and parks, bustling town centres, and a fantastic leisure offer.
Children, young people and families are at the heart of all we do here in Hounslow. We listen to what children, young people and families have to say about what we do and how and where we do it because their say matters. Putting children, young people and families first is at the heart of our Family Friendly vision and we are committed to developing and supporting our workforce to deliver excellent services using resilience-based approaches.
We are looking for skilled, dynamic and motivated professionals who are aspirational for children and young people with the ability to drive change in the families and professional systems they work within. If you thrive in a child-centred and creative environment – Hounslow could be for you. We know that to recruit passionate, dedicated social workers - where there’s simply more demand than the available resource - we must show our appreciation in more tangible ways. That's why we have put together an attractive package for all our social workers.
In return for your skills, knowledge, and experience, you will receive an appropriate starting salary and a friendly, kind, positive and supportive working culture. We also offer:
Annual leave – Generous annual leave entitlements starting from 22 days and rising to max 30 days.
Christmas closure – Up to 3 days, between Christmas and New Year, if your office is closed. This is at the discretion of the council.
Employee benefits –a range of discounts and benefits across a range of companies which you can access as an employee of Hounslow.
Enhanced maternity leave – Up to 52 weeks’ leave after the birth of the baby and the option of a phased return over 3 months.
Flexible working arrangements - our focus is on the outcomes you deliver and we are flexible about where and how this is best achieved.
Local Government Pension Scheme – Open to all employees, this is a tax approved, occupational pension scheme. Your contributions are based on a sliding scale according to your salary band.
Learning and development – we want you to learn everyday. We have a fantastic range of resources and opportunities and are committed to your development throughout your career with us.
Premature baby leave and pay – where a baby is born prematurely. We are proud to have The Smallest Things Charter mark.
Paternity Leave – Up to two weeks paid leave Parental Leave – Up to 18 weeks’ unpaid leave.
Parental Bereavement leave - two weeks’ paid leave following the death of a child or a stillbirth.
Pool cars –Pool bikes –available for our employees to use for work.
Shared parental leave – Up to 50 weeks’ shared parental leave.
Season ticket loans – Interest free loans for British Rail, Underground and Bus season tickets.
Staff wellbeing services - Including access to Occupational Health, an Osteopath/Chiropractor and Employee Assistance Programme.