Children and Family Worker
Responsible to: Service Manager
Location: Wandsworth and Richmond
Salary: £12.03 per hour
Contract: Monday to Friday 9-5:18
Section 7(2) b & e of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 apply to this position - (Only Female applicants Please).
Main Purpose of role: To provide support, advice and assistance to women and children who have or may have experienced domestic abuse.
Key responsibilities:
* Develop positive relationships with women and their child(ren) in order to enable them to work towards and achieve their goals.
* Contribute positively towards the five key themes with Every Child Matters: - Being healthy - Staying safe - Enjoy and achieve - Making a positive contribution - Achieve economic wellbeing
* To motivate and empower service users and their child(ren) in all aspects of daily living.
* To support Service users and their child(ren) using a support plan system. To formulate, implement and review support plans with the participation of service users and external agencies. Taking into account that support plans are age appropriate.
* To advocate on behalf of families, and where appropriate accompanying them to relevant agencies.
* To provide play sessions for both pre-school and school aged children with educational, recreational and interactive opportunities.
* To plan and provide play schemes and activities during holiday periods.
* To assist mothers with parenting skills and signpost them to external agencies if required.
* To support families with issues and concerns surrounding domestic abuse.
* Empower families to improve their quality of life by promoting and maintaining independent living. • Ensuring that confidentiality is kept at all times.
* To establish close working relationships with statutory and voluntary organisations.
* To develop a robust SUI package including promoting events, networking, fundraising and carrying out service users' consultation and obtaining feedback.
* To participate in monthly meetings to address any issues around the family.
* Involve children and young people in the development of the project and explore creative ways of facilitating their involvement.
* To report any safeguarding related incidents immediately to line manager and follow relevant policies
Key Skills:
* The capacity to maintain firm boundaries, using authority legitimately whilst working pro-socially and positively with people
* The ability to learn quickly, gather information and make defensible decisions
* The ability to receive, process and accurately record detailed information, sharing it with others, as appropriate and within the framework of confidentiality
* The ability to work with people who may display challenging behaviour and to defuse potentially difficult situations
* Having a solution focused approach and the capacity to work constructively and collaboratively towards problem solving
* Being optimistic about the possibility of change and the service users' capacity to change
* A calm, non-judgemental and anti-discriminatory approach
* The ability to work within a structured, busy and sometimes pressured environment
* Willingness to travel and work across all the premises within services as well as accompanying clients' to appointments when required
* Knowledge and understanding of safeguarding issues and ability to address them appropriately.
To apply for this excellent opportunity with an established, respected employer, please send your CV