Support Worker: Children with a parent in prison

Join a growing, innovative team delivering direct support for children with a parent in prison. Children with a parent in prison face shame, stigma and isolation. This post will be responsible for delivering essential support to this vulnerable group of young people. This will involve directly supporting families impacted by parental imprisonment.

The successful candidate will be expected to be based from our office in Oxford, to maximise shared learning, however this role will cover a wider geographical area. We try and allocate support to families near the employee's home, but not too near for any conflict of interest. We are actively looking for candidates who are based in Oxford, Banbury, Newbury, Reading, High Wycombe, Didcot, Aylesbury, Slough, Milton Keynes and Windsor.

Main Responsibilities:

- Provide one-to-one support to families affected by imprisonment either face to face support or virtual support,

- Undertake a whole family assessment, manage family caseloads to address individual needs.

- Delivery of face to face and virtual group sessions for children and young people who have a parent in prison, and deliver group sessions for parents caring for children impacted by parental imprisonment.

- Adopt flexible working while maintaining appropriate boundaries in provision of support, advice, and guidance to service users

- Provide regular feedback to your line manager

- Seek support and help from the Operational Manager when appropriate and necessary. Regular supervision will be given, and the opportunity to debrief at other times will be paramount.

- To apply safeguarding and child protection procedures.

The support worker will be responsible for delivering specialised support to families from the point of identification and onwards. Our work is unique in that we cooperate with families to develop personalised approaches in how best to support them with respect to individual circumstances.

Person Specification:

- Experience of working with children and young people

- Good negotiation, communication and interpersonal skills

- Ability to relate sensitively to the needs of prisoner’s families

- Ability to work with a wide variety of people at all levels

- Ability and willingness to work independently and as part of a team

- Ability to prioritise/manage workload in a pressurised environment

- Computer literate

- Ability to coherently write reports and case studies

- Current driving license and access to own car

- Honest, punctual, reliable and trustworthy

- Able to maintain confidentiality

- Willing to undertake relevant training

- Willing and able to travel in the day-to-day role

- Good communication and listening skills

- The ability to build and maintain rapport with adults and children

- Calmness under pressure and when dealing with challenging or confrontational behaviour

- Resilience and the ability to cope with emotionally-draining and traumatic situations

- Commitment to making a positive difference to the lives of service users

- A positive, non-judgemental, empathetic and sensitive approach

Benefits:

- 25 days (pro rata) annual leave + bank holidays

- Flexible working hours including opportunities to take additional unpaid leave to explore your personal interests (e.g. travel)

- In-house and external learning and development as appropriate for the role.

- Legal & General pension scheme (employer contributes 4%)

Contract: 12 months, Fixed-Term

Salary: £23,000 - £25,000

To apply, please send your CV with a short accompanying cover letter to articles@childrenheardandseen.co.uk. This letter should explain why you are well suited to the role, what your understanding of our organisation's work is, and what you hope to bring to the position.

The preferred starting date would be July 31st, 2023.

A closing date is set for June 30th, 2023, but – importantly – we will look at applications as they come in and reserve the right to close the process early depending on interest. This page will be updated when the role has been filled. We may also extend the process, but this cannot be guaranteed.

Job Types: Full-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 12 months

Salary: £23,000.00-£25,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Additional leave
• Company pension
• Flexitime
• Free or subsidised travel

Schedule:

• Flexitime
• Monday to Friday

Licence/Certification:

• Driving Licence (required)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Oxford

Application deadline: 30/06/2023
Expected start date: 31/07/2023