Job Details

This Family Support Worker role will require you to work evenings (after school), weekends and school holidays. The Hours for this role is a maximum of 30 hours per week.

The role of the Peripatetic Family Support Worker is to provide direct, targeted support, at the right time to our foster carers who look after children that are considered to have complex needs. The role requires flexibility and creativity and the ability to engage and build relationships with children with a range of complex needs; experience of working with children with Learning disabilities is an advantage. You will be providing support across Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley and surrounding areas.

We are looking for individuals who are energic and passionate about providing direct support to children and doing so in a way which is focused on achieving specific outcomes in a fun and engaging way. The right people for this role, can engage with multi-agency professionals and be able to express their views about young people and their support in a confident and concise manner. You will be required to produce reports summarising the support you provide and evidence of outcomes that you are delivering and be a key individual in the life journey of the child.

If you are studying social work, psychology or other social sciences, this role presents an excellent opportunity to develop your professional experiences which will enrich your studies and give you meaningful experience for the future. Progress offers a wide range of training opportunities, and the role has regular group supervision with a qualified therapist to ensure that you are supported to deliver therapeutically informed support. Progress has a range of social care services and can offer exceptional career opportunities.

The individual will need to be dynamic and creative as they will be responsible to coordinate, manage and lead groups for young people, based at locations to suit the needs of the children in placement. They will need to manage budgets and ensure that support is delivered in the most effective way to add value and control costs.

Key Responsibilities

Case Work

· To ensure that a needs assessment is conducted in relation to each complex child placed

· Ensure care and support plans are kept up to date, which details how young people are supported so that there is a consistent approach to the child.

· Attending PEP and LAC meetings in conjunction with the Supervising Social Worker to demonstrate the effectiveness of the support that is being provided and to provide written progress reports for each child.

· Provide a rapid response to foster carers in crisis situations.

Direct Support

· Provide direct support to children which are planned and targeted to ensure it adds value to the child’s life

· Provide session reports, that detail the nature of the support provide and how what you have done, aligns with the goals identified

· Provide support in group settings organised by Progress

· Transporting children

Additional Opportunities

· Undertake unannounced visits to Foster Households under the direction of the Supervising Social Worker- providing evidence-based reporting

· Providing enhanced support to Foster Carers in relation to placement planning and settling children into placement

· Preventing placement disruptions

· Undertaking Life Story Work

· Supporting placement transitions