Social Worker - Disabled Children's Team

Are you interested in professional development opportunities offered under the 'Doing What Counts and Measuring What Matters' Project? If so, Islington is looking to recruit enthusiastic and talented social workers to our Disabled Children’s Team. As well as Child In Need and Child Protection work our Disabled Children’s Team work across the full range of statutory work including court, looked after children and permanency. The workers in the team work with the entire family, providing opportunities to complete direct work and interventions with a wide range of ages, abilities and across a wide variety of contextual safeguarding issues.

We also have a vacancy for our Transitions Social Worker. This is a specialist post, that sits under both our Disabled Children's Team and our adult counter-part, the Islington Learning Disability Partnership (ILDP). This role case-holds disabled young people who are Looked After and aged 14+, continuing to case hold them post-18. This is a specialist role that allows lots of opportunities to do direct work with a range of young people to support them with preparation for adulthood and to achieve independence.

What is the Doing What Counts and Measuring What Matters project?

Islington’s 'Doing What Counts and Measuring What Matters' Project is working towards building a gold standard service for children and families in Islington. Islington have listened to children, families and social workers to develop our vision for change:

• Protected caseloads and reduced bureaucracy will allow more intensive work with families, more frequent visits and the opportunity to build transformative relationships and undertaken more direct work,
• A specially designed core training package to deliver goal based interventions, use evidenced based tools, develop reflective and thoughtful risk assessment, and to measure progress,
• Availability of an intensive multi-disciplinary service to enhance social work intervention where the concerns for the child are high risk,
• Social workers will receive regular reflective supervision and practice development opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of the intervention

In order to deliver the vision for change, Islington is expanding the social worker service. As a Qualified Children in Need Social Worker you will bring experience of assessing risk and making plans to safeguard children. Additionally, you will be responsible for progressing plans for sustainable change with families, and stepping up to care proceedings or stepping down to targeted services where necessary. In the Disabled children’s Team you will also be responsible for care planning for looked after children.

You will be accustomed to employing social work principles such as dignity, respect, empathy, and strength based collaborative approaches to service delivery.

Motivational interviewing skills are the cornerstone of social work practice in the Children in Need Service. In order to help us select the best candidates, Islington have developed a two stage interview process with the first stage being an opportunity to test out applicants MI compatibility. Candidates are not required to have advanced MI skills, rather we are seeking to identify those who have the capacity to develop these skills with the advanced training and coaching. Further details will be provided to all candidates who are shortlisted and offered an interview.

The benefits of this post include:

Retention bonus, Zone 1-2 Travel Card, protected case load, specially designed core training package, professional development opportunities, regular reflective supervision, practice evaluation, good pension scheme, generous holidays, flexible working arrangements, an experienced management team and a great working location in Islington.

Closing date:  Tuesday 4th February at 23:59
Motivation Interview: Friday 14th February 2019

Those candidates who are successful following the Motivation Interview will be invited back for a technical Interview on a date to be considered.

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Lauren Carre at Lauren.Carre@Islington.gov.uk

For further information on Islington Children’s Services and Social Care please follow the link: https://www.islingtonsocialworkcareers.co.uk/