Practitioner - Adolescent Service

Cambridgeshire County Council; United States; Hybrid; USD 56,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation package

Retention payments up to £9,118 (pro‑r

Refer a Friend scheme

Cambridgeshire CARE academy

6 days CPD

Job summary

The Cambridgeshire Adolescent Service is focused on safeguarding vulnerable young people with a small caseload of 6–8 children aged 12 and above. You will lead the team in implementing Families First reforms, provide professional leadership, and work across Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire and East Cambridgeshire.

You will mentor colleagues, maintain high practice standards, and support flexible, well-connected team working including home-based days and regular in-person team meetings.

Qualifications

• Be a qualified Social Worker with a Social Work England registration.
• Have the ability to work from a variety of locations and travel countywide independently.
• Experience in statutory social work settings with strong knowledge in assessment, CIN, CP and CiC.

Responsibilities

• Visit children at home or in the community and attend meetings with professional networks.
• Complete written tasks and contribute to assessments and plans for young people.
• Mentor colleagues and support development of good practice within the team; deputise for the Team Manager when needed.
• Lead the Adolescent Service pilot in East Cambridgeshire under Families First reforms.

Skills

Social Work England registration

Travel countywide

Flexible working

Job description

all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family

Benefits

• 6 days of protected time each year to support in maintaining your Continuous Professional Development
• relocation package (eligibility applies)
• Scalable retention payments of up to £9,118 (pro rata) over a 3 year period, starting after your first full year of employment
• Refer a Friend Scheme where if you refer another Social Worker to us who is subsequently employed by us as a result of that introduction, we'll pay you an introduction fee of £350
• Access to our Cambridgeshire Academy for Reaching Excellence (CARE) who will support your development, enabling you to become the best practitioner you can be For more information and to see our other benefits, take a look at the benefits brochure attached to this advert.

Role Overview

You will be responsible for a small caseload of approximately 6-8 children aged 12 and above where the primary safeguarding concerns relate to risk outside the home. Most children open to the team are supported through Child In Need Plans, but you will also undertake some Child and Family Assessments and work with some Children in Care and some subject to Child Protection Plans (including through our ROTH CP framework). Your days will be varied, but include core tasks such as visiting children at home or in the community, attending meetings with professional networks, and completing written tasks. As a Senior Practitioner, you will be responsible for supporting the Team Manager with the mentoring of colleagues and the development of good practice in the team, as well as sometimes deputising for the Team Manager. You will take a leading role for the Adolescent Service in the implementation of the Families First reforms, and particularly the pilot phase in East Cambridgeshire. We operate flexible working including regular home working, but ensure that staff are well connected to their team-mates, including weekly check-in calls and in-person team meetings on a fortnightly basis.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

Requirements

We're looking for an experienced, confident and dynamic social worker, who enjoys working with teenagers and their families and making a difference in their local community. You will be curious and creative, enjoy building relationships and be a team player. You will have experience working in statutory social work settings and have a high level of knowledge and skills in the areas of assessment, Child In Need, Child Protection and Children in Care. You will be able to provide professional leadership for children with multiple complex needs and vulnerabilities, in situations which involve risk, complexity and safety. You must:

• Be a qualified Social Worker with a Social Work England registration
• Have the ability to work from a variety of locations and travel countywide independently

Are you passionate about leading high-quality social work for adolescents when they need it most?

About the Service

The Cambridgeshire Adolescent Service is focused on safeguarding vulnerable young people who are facing risks outside the home. We achieve that by building, The Adolescent South Team is a motivated and well supported team working across Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire and East Cambridgeshire. It is at the forefront of our new pathways for children facing risks outside the home, and closely connected with colleagues in the Missing and Exploitation Team and Youth Justice Service. Young people are referred to the team for one or more of these reasons: they regularly go missing; they are at risk of criminal or sexual exploitation; they are involved in serious violence; they have significant challenges with their mental health or substance misuse; they are aged 16/17 and homeless. In Cambridgeshire we strive to ensure that children are at the heart of everything we do and to provide practitioners with the tools and resources they need to do their best practice.

About Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.