Assessment Social Worker

CareFirst Recruitment Ltd; England; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

Surrey aims to work alongside families, to respect families and their rights, to work with them in partnership and with their informed consent, to recognise their strengths and help them identify their needs.

Social workers in Surrey will be supported to develop high levels of skill in motivational practice which they will use to help parents identify the aspects of their lives/behaviours that they want to change and provide the help and support to families, on a partnership basis, that they

Responsibilities

• triage of contacts to ascertain whether contacts from families, members of the community and partner organisations meet the threshold for a statutory social work assessment of significant impairment of a child’s health/development or significant harm, with appropriate information from referrers and the consent of the family (except when over-ridden by a team manager to protect a child from further significant harm)
• to provide an assessment of the needs of family members, their strengths and any risks to children’s health/development or significant harm to the child/ren and develop SMART plans that will meet the needs of family members and reduce risks to children, in conjunction with children and their families
• to work with partners to meet those needs and monitor progress via child in need and core group meetings involving families, young people and relevant professionals.
• to conduct child protection investigations where a multi-agency strategy discussion considers there are grounds to believe the child has or is likely to suffer significant harm and to involve families in developing plans for change which will reduce the risk of significant harm and keep children in their families wherever possible.
• where children cannot be adequately cared for within their families or their families cannot be engaged to access services that would support them to change and the significant harm threshold is reached, to initiate discussions to seek agreement for s20 or initiate planned or emergency legal proceedings to ensure children are protected in line with departmental policy, procedures and relevant legislation.
• to work with colleagues in commissioning, fostering and adoption to identify high quality placements for children that will promote keeping children with their siblings and engage in timely care planning so children are placed in stable long-term homes where their health and development as well as education and training needs are supported and they can strengthen their resilience to lead a happy and stable adult life

Job description

Surrey aims to work alongside families, to respect families and their rights, to work with them in partnership and with their informed consent, to recognise their strengths and help them identify their needs. Our overarching duty is to promote the upbringing of children within their families, where this is compatible with the welfare of the children.

Social workers in Surrey will be supported to develop high levels of skill in motivational practice which they will use to help parents identify the aspects of their lives/behaviours that they want to change and provide the help and support to families, on a partnership basis, that they need to support them in their change.

Specific areas of work will vary depending on the team but will include:

• triage of contacts to the service to ascertain whether contacts from families, members of the community and partner organisations meet the threshold for a statutory social work assessment of significant impairment of a child’s health/development or significant harm, with appropriate information from referrers and the consent of the family (except when over-ridden by a team manager to protect a child from further significant harm);
• to provide an assessment of the needs of family members, their strengths and any risks to children’s health/development or significant harm to the child/ren and develop SMART plans that will meet the needs of family members and reduce risks to children, in conjunction with children and their families;
• to work with partners to meet those needs and monitor progress via child in need and core group meetings involving families, young people and relevant professionals.
• to conduct child protection investigations where a multi-agency strategy discussion considers there are grounds to believe the child has or is likely to suffer significant harm and to involve families in developing plans for change which will reduce the risk of significant harm and keep children in their families wherever possible.
• where children cannot be adequately cared for within their families or their families cannot be engaged to access services that would support them to change and the significant harm threshold is reached, to initiate discussions to seek agreement for s20 or initiate planned or emergency legal proceedings to ensure children are protected in line with departmental policy, procedures and relevant legislation.
• to work with colleagues in commissioning, fostering and adoption to identify high quality placements for children that will promote keeping children with their siblings and engage in timely care planning so children are placed in stable long-term homes where their health and development as well as education and training needs are supported and they can strengthen their resilience to lead a happy and stable adult life