Child & Family Worker

Overview

Are you passionate about helping children and young people achieve stability, security and positive outcomes in their care journey? Join our Placement Support Team as a Child and Family Worker and play a vital role in supporting children, carers and families to build strong, sustainable placements where children can thrive.

This is a rewarding opportunity to make a lasting difference by working directly with children, young people, adopters, foster carers, kinship carers and families, delivering practical support and interventions that promote placement stability, strengthen relationships and improve outcomes.

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, whilst remaining exceptionally well connected, with London less than an hour away by 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 compassionate individuals to join us on our journey. In return, you'll benefit from a range of rewards and benefits designed to support your wellbeing both professionally and personally.

About us

The Placement Support Team plays a key role across Fostering, Adoption, Family and Friends Fostering and Special Guardianship services by providing specialist, therapeutic support to children, young people and their carers. The team's primary focus is to promote placement stability, strengthen relationships and improve outcomes for children through direct interventions, therapeutic parenting support, training and community-based activities. The service works with some of our most vulnerable children and their carers, helping them understand their life experiences, manage the impact of trauma, build emotional resilience and strengthen family relationships.

The team's work includes direct therapeutic support with children and young people around emotional regulation, life story work, self-esteem, family relationships and transitions. The team also provides support to adopters, foster carers and kinship carers through therapeutic parenting approaches and evidence-based models. Alongside individual interventions, the team delivers training as part of the wider fostering offer and runs a range of events throughout the year, including fostering celebrations and dedicated Sons and Daughters activities that support children living within fostering households.

We are looking for motivated, ambitious and inspiring people to join us on our journey. Not only will you be an integral part of the unique and exciting transition through the unitary process, you will also be entitled to a range of different benefits to make sure you are happy both at work and at home.

About the role

As a Child and Family Worker within the Placement Support Team, you will work closely with children and young people in care, their foster carers, kinship carers and families to help maintain stable, nurturing placements. Through direct work, practical interventions and emotional support, you will help children build resilience, develop positive relationships and achieve the best possible outcomes.

This is a varied and highly rewarding role where no two days are the same. You will spend time working directly with children and carers within homes, schools and community settings, supporting placement plans, responding to emerging challenges and helping to prevent placement breakdown. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, you'll collaborate with social workers and other professionals to ensure children receive the right support at the right time.

You will help identify strengths, understand challenges and deliver tailored interventions designed to improve placement stability, support family relationships where appropriate, and promote children's emotional wellbeing and development.

Key responsibilities include:

• Using a trauma informed approach, providing direct support and intervention to children and young people in foster, kinship and other care placements.
• Providing Therapeutic Parenting support and advice to carers to enable them to understand how a child in their care might be impacted by trauma.
• Building positive relationships with carers and families to strengthen placement arrangements and support children's wellbeing.
• Supporting the delivery of placement support plans and contributing to care planning processes.
• Working collaboratively with social workers, education, health and other partner agencies to achieve positive outcomes.
• Helping to identify and respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns.
• Maintaining accurate, timely and professional records of work undertaken.
• Supporting children and carers through periods of change, transition and challenge.

For a full overview of the role and 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

This advert more accurately reflects the Job Purpose, Responsibilities and Duties but the attached job summary includes detail of the essential/desirable criteria

We're looking for someone who is passionate about improving the lives of children and young people in care and who understands the importance of stable, supportive relationships. You will be a compassionate, resilient and proactive individual who can build trust with children, carers and families while maintaining professional boundaries and managing sensitive situations effectively.

You'll be confident working both independently and as part of a wider team, with the ability to adapt your approach to meet the diverse needs of children and families. Strong communication skills, emotional intelligence and a solution-focused mindset will be key to success in this role.

To be successful, you will ideally have experience working with vulnerable children, young people, families or carers, alongside a sound understanding of safeguarding practices and children's developmental needs. You will be organised, able to manage competing priorities, and comfortable maintaining accurate records and reports.

We are looking for someone with:

• Experience of working with children, young people, families, foster carers or kinship carers.
• The ability to build effective, trusting relationships with a wide range of people.
• Knowledge and understanding of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
• Strong communication, organisation and record-keeping skills.
• Experience of delivering direct work and interventions with children and families.
• A relevant Level 4 qualification or substantial experience in a comparable role.
• Good IT skills and the ability to maintain accurate electronic records.
• Access to a vehicle and the ability to travel throughout the county as required.

If you are committed to helping children and young people experience safe, stable and supportive placements, we'd love to hear from you.

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

For more information about this role, please contact Juia Hammett at [email protected] for an informal discussion.

Closing date: tbc

Interview Date: 12^th and 13^th November 2026

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 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.

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/