Classifications
Job Information
Achieving for Children is a Community Interest Company that has a public sector ethos, combined with the freedom to innovate enabling us to do things differently. As a not-for-profit social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston and Richmond), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government. To find out more about us click here.
Supervised Contact Worker
Participate in the provision of contact to a range of children/young people and their families/carers, ensuring that the intervention is appropriate to the identified need, the goals are clear, outcomes identified, and that the service is provided within the time frames agreed. Maintain a high level of communication with children/young people and carers and to consult in planning, delivery, and review of contact. Prepare and present reports and records as required, and represent the Contact Service view in relating to your work and observations of the child and family.
About the role
Supervised Contact and Life Story Work
The primary purpose of this role is to deliver a high-quality, focused, and safe contact service to children, young people, and their families/carers. This involves facilitating contact arrangements and contributing to life story work, always prioritising the best possible outcomes for the young people. A core responsibility is to safeguard and promote their welfare, giving careful consideration to their race, culture, religion, and linguistic background.
Key Responsibilities:
- Contact Management: Set up and provide supervised contact sessions between children and their families/carers.
- Record Keeping: Maintain accurate records of all interactions (contact notes), noting any child protection concerns or health and safety issues.
- Boundary and Risk Management: Establish and consistently maintain firm boundaries. Risk assess potentially challenging contact situations and intervene to suspend contact if the agreed terms and conditions are breached.
- Skill Promotion: Actively encourage and enable parents to practice safe and effective parenting skills.
- Service Delivery: Support families in maintaining or developing the quality of their contact.
- Intervention and Planning: Participate in providing contact services across a range of children/young people and their families/carers. Ensure interventions are appropriate to identified needs, with clear goals and outcomes, and are delivered within agreed timescales.
- Communication and Review: Maintain a high level of communication with children/young people and carers, involving them in the planning, delivery, and review of contact.
- Reporting: Prepare and present required reports and records. Represent the Contact Service's view regarding your work and observations of the child and family.
About our benefits
We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:
- 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years with an additional day off in your birthday month (Or for term-time workers, your leave entitlement consists of the non-working periods in your contract)
- Tailored induction sessions commencing on the date you start working for AfC
- Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension)
- Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance
- A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
- A range of staff benefits and discounts
- An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway
To find out about all of the breadth of benefits of working for Achieving for Children click here. For our social work offer click here. For our Recruitment Journey, click here.
Important Information
Start dates: Achieving for Children have set start dates meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month. Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.
Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.
Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.
Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
