Family Practitioner

Description:

Family Practitioner
Lewisham
Full time: 35/hrs a week
£25/hr
Start date: ASAP

AKTON Recruitment is working closely with the local authorities and we are looking for a Family Practitioner in the Lewisham area. Enhanced DBS required, please apply if you have a valid Enhanced DBS.

Main Purpose of the job:
To work collaboratively with young people and their families to provide focused support to families to improve outcomes, address challenges, reduce risks to children and to enable families to make and sustain change.

To build trusting relationships with children, young people and families and extended family members/friends/communities to build sustainable change within stronger family networks, helping to alleviate their social isolation and increase capacity.

To work alongside families to prevent needs from escalating to the point where statutory services are needed and/or to reduce the risk of family breakdown and children/young people coming into care.

To undertake and contribute to assessments and plans for children and their families in line with practice frameworks and in a way that avoids duplication and promotes holistic, and family led planning.

To work alongside partner agencies as part of a multi-disciplinary Team Around the Family ensuring that each service is contributing to achieving the best outcomes for children and their families.

To develop and implement effective evidenced based interventions which are grounded in principles of professional curiosity, anti-oppressive practice and systemic approaches with individuals, groups or a family in a range of settings, including community and youth settings, streets and estates, schools and in the family home according to the needs of the family.

To develop and implement effective evidenced based work, including in the home, and on an individual or a group basis in flexible and creative ways through a variety of interventions, engaging with young people and families according to the needs of the family.
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Summary of Duties & Key Responsibilities
1. To effectively engage families and to work directly with them on multiple issues including parenting and family functioning, employment, school attendance mental ill health, learning difficulties, domestic abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, bereavement, risk of going missing and child sexual exploitation, and/or involvement in gangs, criminal and antisocial behaviour.

2. Providing intensive support to vulnerable children/young people and their families through a family centred approach, facilitating the change needed in families to improve parenting capacity and outcomes for children.

3. To maximise the involvement of children, young people and families in decision that after them, and to ensure that the voices of children, young people and families are represented in their assessments and plans, and in service design, review and delivery.

4. Assess parenting skills and help parents/carers to build physical and emotional caring abilities by providing advice and practical support with their parenting role, including use of positive activities to promote social inclusion and techniques to avoid conflict and manage challenging behaviour.

5. Undertaking one-to-one direct work and mediation work with children/young people and their families in a crisis, sometimes in challenging and volatile situations - working closely alongside colleagues from across Children Social Care and other key partner agencies to deliver best practice through an integrated response.

Experience
* Significant experience of providing support to vulnerable children/young people and their families within a targeted early help setting on a range of complex issues, including where there are safeguarding concerns, utilising a range of strategies to engender positive change.
* Experience of developing and maintaining relationships across services and supporting them to work together to achieve coordinated responses to needs and achieve best outcomes for children and families.
* Experience of caseload management and prioritising and planning support.
* Experience of working in culturally diverse communities
* Experience of addressing equal opportunities issues.
* Experience of using different intervention models to support parenting.
* Experience of using practice models and structured assessments to assess risk, needs and action plan with families and individuals, including Early Help Assessments and SMART family plans