Family Support Practitioner

at  Swindon Borough Council

At Swindon Borough Council, we want our town to be the best it can be. Our ambitious vision is supported by realistic transformation programmes, with the people of Swindon at their heart. Because that’s who we’re doing it for – the communities and businesses that make our town great. As part of the Council, you’ll support a friendly local authority making decisions with real impact. It’s all for better public services. Better processes. And a better quality of life, for everyone. Join us, and Swindon will be better with you.

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Assessment Team for Four Family Support Practitioners to Join us.
The team provides Assessment for Children and their families who are in need of support or in need of protection (as defined in the Children Act 1989). We aim to provide help and support as early as possible, this role will help us to do so.
Our Assessment Team currently consists of 4 PODs, made up of 20 Social Workers, 4 Assistant Team Managers, and a Team Manager. This is a great time to join us as we grow and develop through the innovation of the Family Safeguarding model.

We are looking to appoint Family Support Workers into our Assessment Team who will help us to deliver our vision for Children’s Social Care Services.

• We work together with all our Partners to ensure our most vulnerable children and young people are safe from harm.
• We will ensure that we will intervene at the earliest opportunity to effect positive change and offer timely and proportionate action to children’s needs.
• We will ensure that our children, young people and families are supported to fully work with us.
• All children we look after will be protected, educated, healthy and prepared into adulthood.
• We will all continue to build an environment where social work practice will thrive, ensuring all Children and Young People achieve good outcomes.

As a Family Support Practitioner, you will work alongside the Social Workers and managers in the team to assess and meet the needs of families, and you will have responsibility for a small caseload of families where you take the lead role in direct work, support and intervention.
You will be expected to produce good quality written records of your work and contribute to the team’s analysis of what families need.
To succeed in this role you will need experience of working with children and families in a way that makes a positive difference for them. You will need to be child focused, patient and resilient; able to manage your time well, and prioritise your work.
You will be supported in this role through access to monthly supervision – supervision will place focus on the children and families allocated to you, your well-being and your continued professional development. You will also be integrated into one of the 4 PODs, enabling you to build strong working relationships with your colleagues.
If you believe you have the skills, experience and enthusiasm to join and help shape our service and make a real difference to the lives of children, young people and their families then we want to hear from you.
You must be fluent in the English language (as a requirement of Part 7 of the Immigration Act “for the effective performance of a customer-facing role”).