Adolescent Support Team (AST) Senior Practitioner

Role Responsibility

Job Purpose:

To undertake a range of statutory duties in accordance with the Children Act 1989, focussing on children in need of support and protection.  

Working as a Senior Practitioner you will provide supervision, guidance and challenge to less experienced workers, promoting good practice, good performance and a shared responsibility for the wider safeguarding agenda through the provision of high quality social work interventions and effective liaison with local partners.

Main duties and responsibilities:

• You will be a DIPSW, CQSW, CSS or equivalent Social Work graduate with Social Work England registration.
• You will deputise for the Team Manager and / or represent the Adolescent Service at key partnership forums.
• You will carry a number of complex cases, completing assessments of need, planning appropriate resources and monitoring and reviewing plans in line with the policy framework.
•  You will work closely with 16/17yr old young people who present as homeless and rapidly respond to ensure early and effective intervention to prevent homelessness.
• You will be responsible for chairing Child In Need meetings, Co-ordinating multi agency risk meetings, completing Joint Housing Assessments with District Councils, and supporting social workers to provide effective interventions for young people. You may also need to support young people as they become Looked After, attending Looked After Child reviews, completing Care Plans and  Pathway Plans.
• You will provide informal and supervisory support to less experienced and qualified workers in the team and to contribute to the development of the team (eg chairing case mapping meetings, complex case discussions etc)
• Via direct work with families, mentoring and coaching other, less experienced staff, you will promote a practice philosophy which seeks to empower service users, build on individual strengths, and develop strategies which support them to understand, manage and respond to risk and to ensure assessments and plans reflect this.
• You will shape and develop practice standards within the service, by contributing to the development of new initiatives through attendance or leadership on working groups, multi agency forums, training courses etc and acting as lead for identified service initiatives, to develop current and new ways of working that meet service requirements.
• You will work collaboratively with a range of services and partners such as Health, Education, YOT, Police, Housing, and Local Housing Providers to reduce the likelihood of harm and promote life outcomes.  　
• You will promote and actively utilise holistic and whole family approaches to achieve best social work practice, using evidence based practice to exemplify this standard.
• You will maintain awareness of changes in legislation and related policies and practices and ensure all social work staff are also informed of these changes to enable consistent and timely implementation.
• You will have a clear understanding of functional constraints, and the importance to continue to deliver high quality services to young people through times of austerity.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service and registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.

Contact Details

Ruth Bachrach

Ruth.Bachrach@Kent.gov.uk

03000 410013

About the Company

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county's working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds and faiths, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.