Family Network Meeting Facilitator - Kinship Zones

Thurrock Council; Grays; Hybrid; GBP 28,000 - 38,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous annual leave entitlement

Local Government Pension Scheme

Flexible and hybrid working

Job summary

Thurrock Council is expanding its Kinship Service by hiring a Family Network Meeting facilitator to join a dedicated team within Children’s Services. This fixed-term post supports the Kinship Zone pilot and aims to prevent entry into care by building strong network support around children.

Responsibilities include delivering high-quality family network meetings, supporting practitioners, and contributing to policy development. DBS check required upon appointment.

Qualifications

• Experience facilitating family meetings.
• Experience with complex family relationships and multi-agency partners.
• Excellent organisation, administration and communication skills.
• Knowledge of Family Group Conferencing model.
• Understanding of child protection issues and child development.

Responsibilities

• Deliver and embed a high-quality Family Network Meetings model across Children’s Services.
• Ensure family plans safeguard and support children and young people in kinship networks.
• Conduct Family Network Meetings and reviews including Court-directed meetings.
• Advise and support other practitioners to set up and conduct Family Network Meetings and reviews.
• Work under the Service Manager on development and implementation of the service and its policies.

Skills

Facilitating meetings

Early intervention

Multi-agency working

Organisation

Communication

Family Group Conferencing

Child protection knowledge

Conflict management

Education

Family Group Conferencing qualification

Job description

We are looking for a Family Network Meeting facilitator to join the Kinship Service as we expand our offer within Children's Services. The postholder would join a team of three other facilitators, a finance Officer and a BSO as part of a new Family Network Support Team, reporting to the Service Manager.

Thurrock has been chosen to enter a pilot as one of 7 "Kinship Zones" in the country, and as such is expanding the number of Family Network Meetings we support, with the aim to build networks around children and prevent them needing to enter Care.

This post is one of two fixed-term contracts, but with the pilot running for another three years, we hope there is scope for a longer term of service.

About the Role

• To help deliver and embed a high quality, effective Family Network Meetings model across Children's Services.
• To ensure that family plans safeguard and support children and young people living within their family and kinship networks in accordance with their care / case plans.
• To conduct Family Network Meetings and reviews including when directed by the Court.
• To advise and support other practitioners to set up and conduct Family Network Meetings and reviews where necessary.
• To work under the direction of the Service Manager on the continued development and implementation of the service and its policies and procedures.

We welcome applicants who are:

• Passionate about early intervention and preventative family support to help prevent children from needing to enter care.
• Skilled and experienced in facilitating family meetings.
• Skilled at working with complex family relationships and diverse multi-agency partners.
• Organised, have good administration and communication skills, are flexible and confident in managing meetings involving multiple stakeholders.
• Qualified and/or trained in Family Group Conferencing with an understanding of the Family Group Conferencing model.
• Experienced and have knowledge of child protection issues, children and families legislation and an understanding of child development and attachment.
• Ability to manage conflict in the interests of the most vulnerable and to maintain a child-centred approach.

DBS Check: An Enhanced DBS check with Children's Barred List will be required for this post.

At Thurrock Council, we value our employees and offer a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Generous annual leave entitlement
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Flexible and hybrid working opportunities (where applicable)
• Ongoing training and professional development
• Employee assistance programme and wellbeing support
• Staff discounts and local offers
• A supportive and inclusive working environment