Leaving Care Personal Adviser

at  Hertfordshire CC

About the team
An exciting opportunity has arisen, which means we are recruiting to a Leaving Care Personal Adviser role within one of our Care Leaver Teams. This role offers support to young people transitioning to adulthood after previously being children looked after.
About the role
You’ll be working in a fast-paced environment with young people who will be transitioning from being Children Looked After to Care Leavers and who require support, advice, and guidance to ensure they move into adulthood and beyond successfully.
Leaving Care Personal Advisers complete co-produced pathway plans and offer support, advice, and guidance holistically to support our Care Leavers into adulthood and beyond. We advocate for our Care Leavers needs and empower them to live happy and fulfilled lives, full of ambition.
Acting as a corporate parent to our care leavers is central to our work and this is something you would fulfil in your role.
You will work with young adults who are Care Leavers alongside a range of statutory and community services to ensure the best outcomes for those we work with.

This includes;

• Working in line with statutory responsibilities set out in the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and the guidance supporting the Children and Social Work Act 2017.
• Being responsible for a case load of Care Leavers from the age of 18 to 25.
• Supporting transitions between 17-18 years old alongside a CLA Social Worker.
• Assessing young people’s needs and acting as lead professional, developing clear pathway plans and involving other agencies where appropriate.
• Engaging in effective multi agency working, developing collaborative relationships with agencies and coordinating support i.e. mental health, substance use, homelessness.
• Engaging with and providing support for young people, including those with significant additional needs to identify and address barriers to personal development, learning and work, particularly during periods of transition.
• Providing direct support to young people preparing to leave care, in order to endure a smooth and positive transition to independent living.
• Working with young people and their significant others, including family members/carers and others, to enable them to contribute to maximising the young person’s potential.
• Working to agreed targets, monitoring the progress of young people on caseload through regular review, recording data on relevant management information systems to appropriate timescales and standards, producing reports and correspondence as required.
• Keeping up to date with relevant updates in legislation, guidance, policy and procedures in relation to Care Leavers and issues which impact on them i.e. housing, cost of living.

About you

Essential

• Knowledge of child development, adolescence, social, emotional and mental health needs
• Knowledge/experience of working with care leavers, young people and/or families
• Knowledge of current legislation and guidance relating to safeguarding children and adults
• Understanding of transition to adulthood and of being a Child Looked After
• Experience of multi-agency working
• Ability to engage and safeguard young people and families
• Ability to engage with young people who may be parents
• Ability to use structured assessment tools and plan interventions
• Ability to communicate effectively (in both written and verbal forms) with young people, their families, and other professionals
• Ability to engage with young people who may be parents
• Ability to use structured assessment tools and plan interventions
• Ability to communicate effectively (in both written and verbal forms) with young people, their families, and other professionals
• Effective skills in organisation, time management and in managing a complex workload
• Competent in using ICT packages relevant to the role to store and present information
• Commitment to own continuous professional development and best practice

You will need to drive and have access to a car for work purposes.

Desirable

• Knowledge of working with Care Leavers within a formal working environment.

You’ll work within a highly supportive team, with access to excellent supervision and training opportunities. You will also be central in supporting vulnerable young people to successfully transition into adulthood, advocating for and promoting their needs as necessary.
How to apply
As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.
Additional information

Please refer the Job description for details