Child and Family Practitioner / ChISVA | University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

University College London Hospital; City Of London; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent healthcare institution in London seeks an experienced Social Worker to join their team at The Lighthouse, which provides vital support to children affected by sexual abuse. In this role, you will coordinate care, engage with families, and offer trauma-informed assistance throughout the recovery process. Ideal candidates will have substantial experience in safeguarding and a commitment to inclusive practices.

Qualifications

• Substantial experience in safeguarding and direct work with children and families.
• Sound knowledge of trauma-informed practice.
• Experience in emotionally demanding environments.

Responsibilities

• Provide trauma-informed support to children during their recovery.
• Coordinate with families, police, and other agencies for effective support.
• Manage a varied caseload while maintaining high standards of practice.
• Support families in overcoming barriers to access services.

Skills

Trauma-informed practice

Safeguarding

Collaboration

Education

Professionally registered Social Worker

Job description

Overview

Transforming the national response to child sexual abuse. The Lighthouse is the first UK Child’s House, a national leader in trauma‑informed, multidisciplinary support for children and young people who have experienced child sexual abuse. Based in Camden and serving North Central London, we provide integrated health assessments, therapeutic interventions, advocacy through the criminal justice process, and video‑recorded interviews led by clinical psychologists. Our model has influenced policy and practice across the UK, improving well‑being for children and carers, and increasing convictions.

We are seeking an experienced, professionally registered Social Worker to join our team of social workers and ChISVAs. If you want to shape how social workers respond to children as victims of crime and you are ready to deepen your expertise in complex safeguarding, this is an exceptional opportunity to work within a unique and nationally influential service.

Responsibilities

• Provide consistent, trauma‑informed support throughout their recovery and ensuring that their voice and lived experience guide every stage of the criminal justice and care pathway.
• Support the Lighthouse duty system, providing early safeguarding advice and ensuring that any risks or concerns are appropriately escalated to the Consultant Social Worker.
• Serve as the central point of coordination for the child, young person and their family, promoting clear communication, strengthening family engagement and enabling effective partnership working with police, social care, therapy providers and wider agencies.
• Manage a busy, varied caseload, balancing competing priorities and maintaining high standards of organisation, documentation and professional practice.
• Take a proactive approach to identifying barriers in the child’s justice or recovery journey, problem‑solving issues and acting as the family’s main point of contact for advocacy, emotional support and information.
• Ensure that children, young people and carers receive clear, timely and accessible information about what to expect from the criminal justice process, including police procedures, ABE interviews, etc.
• Provide advice that supports informed decision making, ensuring that children and their families understand their rights, options and available support at all stages of their involvement with the Lighthouse.
• Participate in multidisciplinary Lighthouse assessments and contribute to integrated care planning, ensuring that clinical, legal and emotional needs are considered holistically.
• Develop, review and implement safety plans for children and their families that are aligned with safeguarding legislation, pan‑London child protection procedures and established best practice in CSA response.
• Support families to overcome practical and emotional barriers to accessing recommended services, ensuring smooth transitions into therapy, community provision or advocacy support as required.
• Use specialist knowledge of child sexual abuse and trauma to deliver direct interventions that build resilience, support emotional stabilisation and promote recovery for children and safe carers.
• Provide ChISVA‑informed expertise on the impact of CSA and the criminal justice process, working collaboratively with police, social workers, prosecutors and therapeutic partners on joint planning, reviews and coordinated interventions.
• Contribute to the Lighthouse’s wider mission to strengthen national practice through the Barnahus model, supporting service innovation, research and the development of integrated CSA pathways.

Qualifications

You will bring substantial experience in safeguarding and direct work with children and families, sound knowledge of trauma‑informed practice, and confidence working in a busy, emotionally demanding environment. You will value reflective supervision, psychological safety and effective partnership working, and you will be comfortable engaging in both formal processes and collaborative, relationship‑based approaches to practice.

Inclusion

We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace whose teams reflect the diversity of the children and families we support. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and other ethnicities, and from men, who are under-represented in our service in order for us to provide a service that reflects our children and families experiences and uniqueness.

Contact

For an informal discussion, please contact Clementine Anderson or Eimear Timmons at [e-mail].

Please note that we may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications.

This advert closes on Monday 8 Dec 2025.