Children's Residential Worker - Parent and Child Residential Assessment Home

Overview

We are currently seeking Residential Support Workers to join our parent and child residential assessment home located in Aylesbury.

These roles offer an exciting opportunity to make a meaningful impact by supporting families in a safe and nurturing environment. You will help parents develop their parenting skills while ensuring the safety and wellbeing of their young children, particularly where safeguarding concerns may exist.

All applicants would benefit from having experience in producing detailed written reports and conducting comprehensive parenting assessments, which are overseen and quality assured by a qualified Social Worker. The successful candidates will demonstrate the ability to offer constructive challenge, provide parenting advice and guidance, and ensure that children’s needs are consistently met and safeguarded.

Take a look at our Children's Residential Worker Candidate Pack to learn more.

About the role

As a Residential Support Worker, you will be part of a dedicated team supporting parents with children aged predominantly 0–2 years. Your role will focus on helping families develop safe and effective parenting skills while managing any additional safeguarding concerns.

You will contribute to the assessment of each family's long-term parenting capacity and provide both emotional and practical support.

Key responsibilities include:

• Delivering 12–16 week parenting assessments, including one-to-one parenting sessions.
• Providing outreach support to families in the community after they leave the residential setting.
• Accompanying families to medical appointments and offering support with housing and benefit applications.
• Offering hands-on parenting guidance, including role-modelling basic childcare routines.
• Adhering to CCTV policies, as the home is fully monitored.
• Working in partnership with extended family members, carers, Social Workers, and other external agencies.

For the Senior Residential Support Worker, additional responsibilities include:

• Supervising and supporting team members.
• Quality assuring and approving daily written observations.
• Chairing professional meetings and contributing to multi-agency discussions.
• Preparing and managing staff rotas.
• Supporting the day-to-day operations of Sunflower House, including health and safety, staff training, and risk assessments.

About you

We’re seeking individuals who are:

• Committed to working with families and young children in a residential setting, where behaviours may be complex and challenging.
• Experienced in supporting families and children, with a strong dedication to ongoing training and professional development.
• Creative and proactive, able to use initiative and respond effectively in a dynamic and sometimes demanding environment.
• Enthusiastic and adaptable, with the ability to thrive in changing circumstances.
• Skilled communicators, with solid written, IT, and interpersonal abilities.

While not essential, it would be advantageous to hold a relevant qualification such as NNEB, QCF, or NVQ Level 3 in Care, and have experience working in a social care or related setting, including voluntary roles.

For full details, please refer to the attached job summary.

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 Amanda Gardener at [email protected]

Closing date: Midnight on Sunday 2nd November

Interviews: 13th and 14th November

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.

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk.

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 and 2023).

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’).

Our values

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.

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/