Child and Family Advisor

About the Role

If you are committed, innovative and passionate about improving outcomes for children then Warwickshire would like to hear from you.

Warwickshire Family Connect is the first point of contact for children, families, professionals and members of the public wanting to raise safeguarding concerns in relation to a child / children or needing advice with regards to a presenting scenario involving a child.

Now is an exciting time to be part of our team as Warwickshire begins to embed our Families First teams who support the young people in our County. Our approach is about locality working, multi disciplinary and multi agency teams that support the whole family. Building strong partnerships with local services, Health, Police and Education.

If you want to build strong relationships and connections with families, join Warwickshire's Children and Families service.

Our Offer to you includes:

• Supportive managers who provide recognition and a robust supervision policy focussed on wellbeing and workload.
• A volunteering & wellbeing day in addition to generous annual leave and an additional day at Christmas.
• We also offer a Refer a Friend package for some roles. Terms and conditions apply.

Family Connect comprises of 2 separate Hubs - the Triage Hub and the MASH Hub and work is allocated in the 2 hubs depending on complexity, the family's needs and potential risk implications. There is very good communication amongst the 2 hubs and work flows fluidly between them should there be a need to shift work from one hub to another.

By using coaching conversations, Family Connect aims to enhance professional confidence and gather all necessary information during the initial call. This method aspires to ensure that families receive the right help at the right time.

The remit of Family Connect is to screen all contact and referrals received via telephone (or by email via a Multi Agency Contact Form from emergency services) and to reach a decision regarding the most appropriate way forward for the family. As part of our screening process, we speak with children, families and other professionals already supporting the family in order to ensure that we have a holistic understanding of the family's needs. Our decision making is supported by our threshold document, Spectrum of Support which is easily accessible online.

As a Children and Families Advisory Officer you will work in the Triage Hub as part of an integrated team of professionals supporting children from 0 to 18 years of age. You will respond to contact from professionals, family members, members of the public and sometimes, children and young people themselves.

As a Children and Families Advisory Officer you will work in a supportive and restorative way to achieve the best possible outcome for children and families. The Children and Families Advisory Officer will be responsible for talking to families and professionals about their concerns giving advice, support and signposting as appropriate.

The role is hybrid with a mixture of working from the office and working from home (following completion of the induction) with no direct face to face contact with children, young people and families.

For further information please see the job description and person specification attached.

Working for Warwickshire - This is the difference you make

Warwickshire County Council is a place where everyone feels valued, included, safe, supported and welcome. Our people are at the heart of this vision, could you be one of them!

At Warwickshire County Council we are committed to ensuring Warwickshire's economy is vibrant and supported by the right jobs, training, skills and infrastructure. Our people vision for Warwickshire County Council is a great place to work where diverse and talented people are enabled to be their best.

Your future matters to us, we provide a generous pension scheme which includes an employer contribution rate of typically around 19 percent per month, to help support your financial security during retirement. The scheme also offers a valuable package of benefits for members and their dependants.

The benefits we offer include agile working, a valuable part of the pay and reward package for employees working in local government, generous annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays and an additional day at Christmas, and access to Vivup benefits and discounts platform.

Additional Information

Warwickshire County Council are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. Successful applicants will be subject to a range of pre engagement checks, including a relevant Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS). In accordance with the DBS code of practice and our own policy, should an individual have a declared criminal offence an individual assessment will be completed. Warwickshire County Council adheres to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

The Fluency Duty is outlined in the Code of Practice on the English language requirements for public sector workers. The Fluency Duty for this role is required. You must be able to speak and provide advice in accurate spoken English to the public.

We recommend submitting your application as soon as possible. We don't want to keep you waiting so we will be starting the initial shortlist and assessment process while the job advert is running. Please check your emails or applicant account via our jobs portal for any updates on your application.

If you are applying for this role on a secondment basis please ensure you have permission from your line manager.

Should you require application forms in an alternative format or language or any adjustments to be made throughout the application process or upon appointment, please contact and we will make every effort to meet your specific requirements.

Warwickshire County Council is committed to equality of opportunity for all employees and is keen to address areas of under representation in its workforce.