Residential Support Worker - Parent and Child Assessment Home

Overview

We are looking for two Residential Support Workers and one Senior Residential Worker for our parent and child residential assessment home situated within Aylesbury.

We are looking for talented professionals who can provide a positive living experience for the families by ensuring they can learn and develop their capacity as parents, whilst managing any additional safeguarding risks there may be to their young children. The senior role will require the successful candidate to possess leadership and management style qualities in order to support the management team with the day to day running of the home.

It is vital that the applicant has experience in completing comprehensive written reports and understands that this role entails completing in depth parenting assessments that are overseen and quality assured by a qualified Social Worker. The successful candidate also needs to demonstrate the ability to appropriately challenge, provide advice and guidance around parenting and ensure children’s needs are met and safeguarded.

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally. 

Buckinghamshire is an ambitious, rapidly growing county, and our economy is one of the strongest in the country. It is an area of outstanding natural beauty and ranks as one of the top rural areas to live in the UK and yet it is incredibly well connected– only an hour from London on the train. The county has a rich history and heritage and is the birthplace of the international Paralympic movement.

We are looking for motivated, ambitious and inspiring people to join us on our journey. You will be entitled to a range of different benefits to make sure you are happy both at work and at home.

About the role

You will work as part of a team that encourage and support parents with children between the ages 0-2, to ensure they are able to appropriately parent and manage additional risk.

You will be part of the team who are assessing the overall capacity of residents to parent their children long term and offer parenting support and guidance, whether this is physical or emotional.

You will be required to undertake:

• 12-16 week parenting assessments that included 1:1 parenting sessions,
• Outreach support within the community when families leave the property.
• Support within the community, attending medical appointments
• Supporting with applications for housing and benefits.
• Physical parenting support such as guiding new parents and role modelling day to day basic care of a child for example.
• Adhering to CCTV policies as the home is fully camerered throughout.
• You will work in partnership with wider family groups and carers of children, Social Workers, and other outside agencies, as required.

As well as the above, the senior worker will be required to:

• Supervise multiple members of the team
• QA and approve daily written observations
• Chair professional meetings
• Prepare and amend rotas
• Undertake and maintain a role within the day to day running of Sunflower House with regards to health and safety, training and risk assessments.

About you

You will be:

• Committed to working with families and their children within a residential setting behaviour can be complex and challenging.
• Have appropriate knowledge and experience of working with families and children and committed to training and continued professional development.
• Be Creative and able to use your own initiative whilst working in a challenging environment.
• Enthusiastic and highly adaptable to changing circumstances.

In addition, you should possess good written, IT and communication skills.

Ideally, although not essential, you should have a relevant qualification (NNEB/QCF/NVQ 3 in Care) and experience of working in a social service-related setting (including voluntary work).

Please see job summary attached for full details.

Other information

Residential Workers will work a shift rota system and this includes weekends. Sleep in duties will also be a requirement.

If you would like to find out more about the role, please contact Samantha Finch at [email protected]

Closing date: 9th December 2024. 

Interview date: TBC

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro Guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled ‘Exceptions Order’).

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Buckinghamshire is a successful, growing place with fantastic natural assets, a highly productive economy and many resourceful and thriving communities. However, we are far from complacent and our new and ambitious unitary authority is well placed to tackle the challenges associated with growth, an aging population, climate change and inequalities in both opportunities and outcomes – particularly for our children and young people.

Children’s Services is on an improvement journey and as our very recent Ofsted report shows, we have continued to improve despite the pressures of the pandemic and have built solid foundations for future success. Relationships with partners are strong and our collective response to the pandemic has strengthened and deepened our work together.

We have a big, ambitious agenda for Buckinghamshire, and our teams work collaboratively and at pace to make a positive difference to the lives of children and young people across the county.

We are looking for talented and driven individuals to help us achieve the best outcomes for our children, young people and families in Buckinghamshire. Our key priorities include continuing to protect vulnerable children and young people from harm, whilst sustaining an environment where social work practice can thrive. Through our vital work with our partners, including The Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Childrens Partnership, we continue to improve our collective response to children and young people who have been exposed to domestic abuse, exploitation, substance misuse and mental health issues.

No matter what role you take on in our Children’s services, you will be part of a team who is dedicated to supporting children and their families to achieve their full potential.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/