Family Support Worker

Family Support Worker – Birmingham

Fixed Term Contract to 31/08/2027

£30,985.55 to £34,359.00 per annum (SCP 27 – 30)

37.5 Hours per week (5 days)

Father Hudson’s Caritas is seeking an experienced Family Support Worker to provide a range of school-based support services across three primary schools within a MAC.

As a Family Support worker, you will be based and work in each of the schools below, working directly with the individual children, their parents/carers, either in school or within their homes. You will work collaboratively with key staff in school and external agencies to deliver a package of tailored interventions to strengthen and improve their outcomes, to build their resilience and help them to be the very best they can be.

This is a whole-year role, and you will be required to work during some school holiday periods. Annual leave is expected to be taken during the school holidays wherever possible.

It is essential that you hold a full driving licence and have access to a car.

Locations:

Oratory Catholic Primary School

• Oliver Road, Ladywood, Birmingham, B16 9ER
• Monday & Tuesday, 15 hours: 08.30/45 am – 16.30/45 pm (each day)

SS Mary & John Catholic Primary School

• Gravely Hill North, Erdington, Birmingham, B23 6BQ
• Wednesday & Thursday, 15 hours: 08.30/45 am – 16.30/45 pm (each day)

SS Peter & Paul Catholic Primary School

• Kingsbury Road, Erdington, Birmingham, B24 9ND
• Friday, 7.5 hours: 08.30/45 am – 16.30/45 pm

Working with schools, health and social care agencies and the voluntary sector, our Family Support Service supports children and families to overcome adversity and disadvantage they face, particularly where these are affecting a child’s emotional wellbeing, mental health and educational achievement. The service benefits the child, the family and the school.

The post holder will be expected to work in line with our workplace values which are:

• Compassion
• Respect
• Challenging injustice
• Excellence
• Collaboration
• Working with people’s strengths
• Inclusivity

Key Areas:

1 Work directly with vulnerable children and families within the school cluster in order to increase resilience/protective factors, educational attainment and attendance.

2        Work with schools and agencies involved to provide support to children and families and assist them in finding solutions to their problems, issues and difficulties that both empower and protect them.

3 Develop early intervention working within the Information Sharing and Assessment models and Early Help models.

Duties & Responsibilities

1. Liaise closely with key school staff including the Senior Leadership Team. Work closely with and update designated school leads about casework, and closure of referrals.

2. Assess, plan and deliver work directly with children and their families through individual, family and group work. This will include regular home visits and occasional out of hours work.

3. Fully engage with a range of vulnerable children and young people, taking into account their needs, rights and current situation.

4. Plan and develop flexible programmes of support to meet the individual needs of ‘service users’, adhering to effective safeguarding practices.

5. Assess and promote parenting skills of parents through one-to-one, group work and delivery of parenting programmes.

6.      Provide information and signpost service users to services within their local communities.

7. Involve children, young people and families fully in the planning, decision making and evaluation processes.

8. Liaise with colleagues from partner agencies in order to ensure work is not duplicated but collaborative and complimentary.

9. Ensure proper records and administration are maintained in accordance with the Family Support Service requirements, organisational and local Authority policies and current legislation requirements.

10. Undertake outcome star monitoring, review, evaluation and reporting practices according to deadlines.

11. Participate in regular Supervision and team meetings, promoting and enabling colleagues and teamwork.

12. Maintain and develop skills and competence for practice by undertaking training as required, in particular to update Safeguarding and Local Authority Assessment Frameworks, e.g. Early Help Assessment. To act as Early Help, Lead Professional with allocated casework.

13. Maintain and develop relationships with statutory and voluntary agencies to ensure that children and families receive the appropriate services.

14. Contribute to the 6 monthly service reports to schools.

15.    Develop and maintain professional key working relationships with staff from agencies linked to the schools.

16. Contribute to the development of the service including consultation and review to ensure services are being delivered according to the needs of children, young people and families.

17. Comply with statutory regulations, Society and local organisational policies and procedures having particular regard for Health & Safety and Child Protection issues.

18. Maintain confidentiality.

19. Undertake additional duties as may be identified from time to time that are commensurate with the post.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Qualification (Essential):

• Good General level of education (A)
• NVQ level 3 in Health and Social Care, Childcare or working with Children and Young People or equivalent (A, D)

Experience (Essential):

• In depth experience of working with vulnerable children and families (A, R)
• Experience of Early Help/TAF
• Holistic approach to working with vulnerable families providing Family Support. (A, I, R,)
• Experience of direct 1-1 interventions to promote & enable children’s development in a child centred approach. (A, I, R)
• Experience in delivering parenting interventions (A, I, R)
• Relevant skills and training in Safeguarding children and knowledge of the statutory frameworks and Acts. (A, I, R)
• Experience of inter-agency working with statutory and voluntary agencies. (A, I, R)

Experience (Desirable):

• Experience of working with/in schools.
• Experience of delivering group work programmes for parents, children and young people

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (Essential):

• Knowledge of adverse childhood experiences and its impact (A, I,)
• Ability to undertake good, clear assessments and identify interventions with children and their families. (A, I, R)
• Ability to undertake lone home visits (I)
• Skills and ability to work with challenging children, families and complex situations. (A, I, R)
• Good time management and able to manage and prioritise work with competing demands. (A, I, R)
• Ability to record work in a concise and timely manner. Good report writing skills. (A, I, R)
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. (I)
• Fully competent in the use of IT systems such as Microsoft word, outlook and inputting sensitive data onto electronic platforms (A,I)
• Knowledge of local area, services and community (A,I)

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (Desirable):

• Knowledge of evidence-based practice and what works with vulnerable families (A)

Personal Qualities (Essential):

• Aware of own strengths, limitations and can work under pressure (A, I, R)
• Belief in the value of parenting support (I)
• Self-motivating and positive attitude (I)
• Recognises impact of discrimination and has values that promote equality, diversity and inclusion. (I)

Other Requirements (Essential):

• Full driving licence, business insurance and use of own vehicle (A, D)
• To travel between schools and to work flexibly beyond the school day with occasional out of office hours when necessary (A, I)
• Be willing to take leave during school holidays and be available to work during term time (A, I)
• Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure & Barring Service. (Requested by Father Hudson’s Care if appointed)
• To respect the values, beliefs and ethos of the schools involved. (I)
• To respect and be able to work within the values, beliefs and ethos of Father Hudson’s Care (I)

Method of Assessment

A = Application Form       D = Documentation    I = Interview        T = Test      E = Exercise

P = Presentation              R = References