This exciting new project sits under the Safe Choices Programme umbrella and aims to work with the most vulnerable young women who are leaving custody or leaving care. This partnership project brings together the expertise of The Children’s Society and nia to work in all London boroughs with young women leaving custody and 6 London boroughs per year with young women leaving care. This project is funded by the Big Lottery Youth in Focus programme until 2016.

As Sessional Project Worker you’ll lead the work with young people in the boroughs south of the river Thames. You’ll be responsible for the development and delivery of all young women’s work and co-deliver group work with the Project Worker. You’ll also develop and deliver training to professionals.

Due to the intensive support involved in this post, this is open to women only. Section 7(2)e of the Sex Discrimination Act exemption applies.

You’ll have a relevant qualification within the field of education, social work or youth work, or equivalent and have significant experience of working with vulnerable young people leaving care and leaving custody and significant experience of serious youth violence, including gangs and sexual violence.

Hours of work will be on an ‘as and when’ required basis.

This post requires potential travel to all London boroughs and occasional travel outside London.

For an informal discussion please call Geraldine Boyles on 0207 358 2017.

As well as a strong commitment to your development, we offer a generous holiday entitlement, a contributory stakeholder pension, childcare vouchers and flexible working.

Sessional Project Worker (Safe Choices: Leaving Care and Custody)

Funded until end of 2016

Location:

London Hub - London Youth at Risk Programme, 91-93 Queen’s Road, SE15 2EZ Peckham

Reward Band:

Project Staff II (SNC 1-6) £12.04ph - £13.7 ph plus pro-rata £3,277 Inner London Weighting

Reporting to:

Senior Project Worker

Job purpose:

• To develop and deliver the Safe Choices: Leaving Care and Custody Advocacy programme in partnership with nia.
• The project aims to prepare and support young women leaving Young Offenders Institutions (YOI) (aged 15-21) and vulnerable young women leaving care (aged 16-21) to make the transition to independence. The project will provide them with the practical, therapeutic and advocacy support they need to define priorities and positive outcomes they want to achieve in their lives, and to help them gain the confidence and skills to improve their life chances by providing intensive 1:1 support for young women; participatory group work for young women; advocacy for young women and finally developing and delivering a training programme and toolkit for practitioners to develop good practice across the youth sector.
• The Children’s Society Project Worker is responsible for development and delivery of all young women’s work and delivery of practitioner training and will support the nia project’s Young Women’s Worker. The role will cover all boroughs of London with occasional travel to Youth Offending Institutions or Prisons nationally.

Key activities:

• To support vulnerable young women to develop their skills, knowledge and self-confidence to make positive life choices and keep themselves and other young people safe.
• To manage a caseload and record appropriately any involvement with young women, assessing, reviewing and evaluating all work to ensure needs are being met.
• Advocating on behalf of and developing a positive and clear support network for young women
• To develop and deliver participatory methods and activities to engage vulnerable young women in 1:1 and group work sessions.
• To support the development and delivery of training and good practice toolkit for working with young women at risk of entering or re-entering the criminal justice system including young women in the care system.
• To develop relationships and work in partnership with strategic partners and referring agencies (i.e. local safeguarding children’s boards, police, Youth Offending Team, Child Social Care teams, Pupil Referral units).
• To contribute to the administration, reporting and planning of the project by designing, delivering and evaluating project activities to measure outcomes for young women.
• To keep young women, professionals, guardians and relevant agencies informed of the project activities where appropriate and necessary.
• To provide an inclusive service that recognises the importance of young women and adults respecting each other and getting on well together.
• To adhere to TCS quality standards and policies, including equal opportunities, anti-discriminatory, diversity and practice guidance.
• To contribute to the work of Safe Choices Advocacy Project as required.
  
  

Attainments:

In order to be considered for this post you will have to demonstrate that you already have:

Experience

• Relevant experience of working with young women at risk of or who have entered the YOI/Prison system.
• Relevant experience of working with young women in the care system who are at risk of entering the criminal justice system.
• Relevant experience in working with young people at risk of committing gun, gang or knife related crimes.
• Relevant experience of working with young people from diverse backgrounds.
• Relevant experience of developing and delivering training to professionals from all disciplines.
• Experience of 1-1 casework and case management including child protection.
• Experience of leading effective group work with hard to engage young women in both the care system and the criminal justice system.
• Experience of partnership and multi-agency working.
• Experience of lone working.
• Experience of working on one’s own and within a team.

Qualifications

• A relevant qualification within the field of education, social work or youth work or another qualification associated with the area of work.

Work based knowledge

• Working knowledge of relevant policy and legislation as it relates to young people, especially looked after children and children leaving care.
• Working knowledge of relevant policy and legislation as it relates to young people, especially around youth offending, youth violence and gangs
• Working knowledge of relevant policy and practice relating to child protection and safeguarding of young people.
• Working knowledge of relevant policy and legislation around sexual exploitation and sexual violence
• Working knowledge of models and methods for 1-1 and group work with vulnerable young people.
• Working knowledge of accreditation models.

Skills

• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely with young people and professionals, written and verbally
• Ability to motivate and engage vulnerable young people
• Ability to engage young people in positive activities.
• IT Skills (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Outlook Express etc)
• Ability to plan and manage own workload

Core competencies:

In order to be successful in this role you will be able to demonstrate that you have the ability to:

Safeguarding children and young people

• Identify any safeguarding concerns.
• Take appropriate action to ensure the child/young person and/or vulnerable adult is protected.
• Complete detailed safeguarding referrals.
• Contribute to a safe practice environment, including the supervision of others.

Agreeing and Meeting Targets:

• Work to agreed targets and outcomes both for funder and TCS
• Propose targets and standards for role
• Plan day-to-day activities
• Work under fairly close supervision

Providing Service to others:

• Build and maintain good levels of service
• Ensures service delivery reflects the needs of stakeholders
• Recognises and values diverse and different perspectives
• Identifies opportunities for children and young people to be heard and involved meaningfully in our work to make a difference

Communicating with Others:

• Communicate effectively with others in other parts of the organisation or externally on day-to-day matters

Managing yourself:

• Make decisions confidently
• Manage own learning
• Take pride in achieving results

Building and Maintain Relationships:

• Relate well to others, internal and external
• Take an active part in team meetings

Innovation:

• Identify areas for improvement and take action to achieve desired and agreed outcomes

Other Competencies:

Leading Others:

• Take a leadership role within team when appropriate

Managing Resources:

• Use resources efficiently
• Shares timely and accurate information with others

Special Job Circumstances:

This post has the following special circumstances:

• The post necessitates working some unsocial hours, with regular evening and weekend meetings for which time off in lieu is granted
• This post necessitates some travel both within London boroughs and nationally
• An enhanced clearance from the Criminal Records Bureau is required.
• Emotional resilience

(Please note: if you have difficulty meeting these conditions because of a disability or family circumstances the appointing manager will discuss it with you in order to consider reasonable adjustments to the job or working conditions)

Relevant Personal Characteristics:

So that you personally can succeed in this role and The Society you will require:

• An understanding and acceptance of the principles and values of the organisation taking action to advance the Society’s values in day-to-day work
• At all times to carry out your responsibilities with due regard to the Society’s commitment to keeping children safec
• A commitment to diversity and equality in working relationships and practices
• Emotional resilience and the ability to work under pressure. Flexible, adaptable and able to cope with changing priorities and ambiguity
• Effective team worker