Vacancies

Family Practitioner - Childrens Disability (Stafford)

Main Responsibility

As a Family Practitioner, you will be part of a team of 8 Social Workers and 2 Family Practitioners.

You will:

• work directly with disabled children and their families and carers whilst underpinning our restorative approach.  
• work closely with colleagues from our Occupational Therapy Teams, Commissioners,  Assessment and Staying Together Teams and Early Help Teams, to support Children and Families ensuring they receive the right help at the right time. 
• be expected to be creative and innovative with the ability to engage and communicate with disabled children and be committed to ensuring the children you support receive the best quality service.

You'll also:

• work collaboratively with social workers to support children in need, children on child protection plans and children in care. 
• develop, facilitate and organise family and professionals’ meetings, events and groups.
• provide transport and support to children and their families to a variety of situations including school, medical appointments, meetings and social activities working under the guidance of the allocated social worker. A car user is essential. 
• provide intensive support to children and families to enable them to remain together or where appropriate to support reunification of families.
• Work with children and families including contributing to assessments and providing practical support, this may include moving and handling, personal care, assistance with feeding, behaviour management and administration of medication (following training by a qualified professional and within guidance of an agreed care plan and risk assessment)
• be available outside of traditional working patterns including evening and weekends to provide support to children, families and carers when it is needed.

The Ideal Candidate

You will: 

• hold a Minimum standard of NVQ3 in respect of working with children and their families together with previous experience working with children with disabilities
• the ability to engage and communicate with disabled children and their parents/carers
• have the ability to build relationships and deliver interventions to children, families and carers as well as being able to work effectively in conflict situations
• have the ability to use IT systems and to write a good standard of records
• have the commitment and ability demonstrate restorative approaches to working with children and families.

Interviews will be scheduled to take place weeks commencing 17th March 2025. 

Applications will be reviewed weekly and shortlisted candidates may be contacted for an interview sooner. 

For Further information about the role or an informal chat please contact Elizabeth Holdcroft, Children's Disability Team Manager at: elizabeth.holdcroft@staffordshire.gov.uk or on 01543 512097. 

This role is currently subject to a review of weekend working arrangements, including any paid enhancements.

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.
 

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too. 

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. 

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.