Life Story Child & Family Worker

Overview

Every child deserves to understand their story.

As a Life Story Child & Family Worker, you'll play a vital role in helping children and young people in care make sense of their experiences, build a stronger sense of identity, and preserve important memories for the future.

Working within our Fostering and Adoption service, you'll undertake meaningful life story work and create life story books that help children understand their personal journeys and the people who have shaped their lives.

About us

The team is made up of full and part time workers who have all been awarded a certificate by Richard Rose’s Therapeutic Life Story Work International. This recognises their specialist skills in providing TLSW to children and young people who have experienced trauma.

Life Story Work is offered to all Looked after Children in Buckinghamshire Council. The team works across Adoption, Fostering and Special Guardians to offer Life Story and Direct Work such as life story books and therapeutic life story work.

The team follows the Richard Rose Model of therapeutic life story work. This approach helps the child/young person process their past, work through their trauma in a safe and contained space.

Life story work is completed with children and young people to support them to understand their life history and their journeys through care. Life story work can help children and young people understand who they are, what they have experienced and why, and support them to establish a sense of identity and adjust to their family lives. Life story work can include stories from early childhood and beyond, memories, anecdotes, and belongings. This is all collated into a Life Story Book which provides the child with a visual record of the significant events and relationships in their lives.

About the role

This is a unique opportunity to make a lasting difference to the lives of children and young people living away from their birth families. Through life story work, you'll help children explore their past, understand their present circumstances, and build confidence for the future.

Working closely with children, carers, families and social work colleagues, you'll use a child-centred and trauma-informed approach to gather information, facilitate conversations, and create meaningful life story resources and memory books. These records can become treasured lifelong keepsakes, helping children develop a stronger understanding of their history, relationships and identity.

No two days will be the same. You'll spend time engaging directly with children and young people, collaborating with professionals across Children's Social Care, maintaining accurate records, and supporting plans that help achieve positive outcomes for children in care. This role requires empathy, creativity, organisation and excellent communication skills, alongside a genuine passion for improving the lives of vulnerable children and young people.

Key Responsibilities

• Undertake life story work with children and young people in care.
• Create life story materials and memory books that support children in understanding their personal history and identity.
• Work directly with children, carers and families to gather information and build understanding.
• Liaise with social workers and colleagues to plan and deliver effective life story interventions.
• Maintain accurate, confidential and timely records in line with policies and procedures.
• Attend meetings, supervision sessions and multi-agency discussions as required.
• Safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in all aspects of your work.

For a full list of responsibilities, please refer to the Job Description.

Any-Desk:

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required. You will be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team requirements.

About you

We're looking for a compassionate, patient and dedicated individual who is passionate about helping children and young people thrive. You'll be able to build trusting relationships with children, carers and families, demonstrating sensitivity, empathy and professionalism in everything you do.

You'll have experience working directly with vulnerable children, young people and families, alongside a good understanding of the legislation, guidance and best practice relating to children in care. You will be confident communicating with a wide range of people, able to manage sensitive situations appropriately, and skilled at producing high-quality written records and reports.

To be successful in the role, you'll be organised, resilient and able to prioritise your workload effectively while working collaboratively with colleagues across Children's Social Care. You'll also have the ability to engage and motivate children, interpret situations and behaviours, and deliver interventions that support positive outcomes.

Essential Skills, Experience and Qualifications

• Experience working directly with vulnerable children, young people and families.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation, statutory frameworks and good practice relating to looked-after children.
• Strong relationship-building skills and the ability to work effectively with children, families, carers and professionals.
• Therapeutic Life Story Work certificate in using Richard Rose model would be desirable.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with a clear understanding of confidentiality.
• Ability to analyse situations, make sound judgements and deliver effective interventions.
• Good record-keeping and ICT skills, including the use of Microsoft applications.
• Ability to communicate effectively with children both individually and in small groups.
• NVQ Level 2 or Level 3 in a relevant subject, or willingness to work towards this qualification.
• Good standard of general education.

For full details of the person specification and role requirements, please refer to the Job Description.

We understand that candidates may use AI tools to assist with their applications. While we welcome innovation, we expect all submissions to reflect your own experience, skills, and achievements accurately. Please ensure your application is truthful and demonstrates your personal capabilities, as this will be assessed during the selection process.

Other information

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.

For roles that require Basic DBS check or no check please start using wording below:

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

• All unspent cautions and/or unspent convictions

For further information on how long it takes for cautions and convictions cautions to become spent, please refer to our guide on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (updated 2023) | Nacro

For roles that require Standard or Enhanced DBS checks please use wording below:

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 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/