Leaving Care Personal Advisor

Job Title: Leaving Care Personal Advisor
Starting Salary: £33,366 progressing to £36,124 pa
Hours: 37.0
Location: Stevenage
Contract Type: 12 Month Fixed Term/Secondment
Directorate: Childrens Services

About the team

We are expanding our Leaving Care workforce and a number of exciting opportunities have arisen, which means we are recruiting additional Leaving Care Personal Adviser roles. These roles offer support to young people transitioning to adulthood after previously being children looked after. Leaving Care Personal Advisers provide support, advice, and guidance holistically to support our Care Leavers into adulthood.

About the role

As a Leaving Care Personal Adviser, you will work with young adults who are Care Leavers alongside a range of statutory and community services to ensure the best outcomes for those we work with.

You'll be working in a fast-paced environment with young people who will be transitioning from being Children Looked After to Care Leavers and who require support, advice, and guidance to ensure they move in to adulthood and beyond successfully.

This includes;

• Working in line with statutory responsibilities set out in the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and the guidance supporting the Children and Social Work Act 2017.
• Being responsible for a case load of Care Leavers from the age of 18 to 25.
• Supporting transitions between 17-18 years old alongside a CLA Social Worker.
• Assessing young people's needs and acting as lead professional, developing clear pathway plans and involving other agencies where appropriate.
• Engaging in effective multi agency working, developing collaborative relationships with agencies and coordinating support i.e. mental health, substance use, homelessness.
• Engaging with and providing support for young people, including those with significant additional needs to identify and address barriers to personal development, learning and work, particularly during periods of transition.
• Providing direct support to young people preparing to leave care, in order to endure a smooth and positive transition to independent living.
• Working with young people and their significant others, including family members/carers and others, to enable them to contribute to maximising the young person's potential.
• Working to agreed targets, monitoring the progress of young people on caseload through regular review, recording data on relevant management information systems to appropriate timescales and standards, producing reports and correspondence as required.
• Keeping up to date with relevant updates in legislation, guidance, policy and procedures in relation to Care Leavers and issues which impact on them i.e. housing, cost of living.

About you

Essential:

• Knowledge of child development, adolescence, social, emotional and mental health needs
• Knowledge/experience of working with care leavers, young people and/or families
• Knowledge of current legislation and guidance relating to safeguarding children and adults
• Understanding of transition to adulthood and of being a Child Looked After
• Experience of multi-agency working
• Ability to engage and safeguard young people and families
• Ability to engage with young people who may be parents
• Ability to use structured assessment tools and plan interventions
• Ability to communicate effectively (in both written and verbal forms) with young people, their families, and other professionals
• Ability to engage with young people who may be parents
• Ability to use structured assessment tools and plan interventions
• Ability to communicate effectively (in both written and verbal forms) with young people, their families, and other professionals
• Effective skills in organisation, time management and in managing a complex workload
• Competent in using ICT packages relevant to the role to store and present information
• Commitment to own continuous professional development and best practice
• Driving licence and access to a vehicle for work purposes

Desirable:

• Knowledge of working with Care Leavers within a formal working environment.

This job role is within the Health and Social Care Services, level HSC9 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Health and social care

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Helen.Andrews@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: 4th December

Benefits of working for us



How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Secondment
This position is open to secondments. If you work for HCC or any other Local Authority and would like to be considered as a Secondment contract, please ensure you complete the Secondment Form as part of your application. If you do not, your application will be considered as a Fixed Term Contract only.

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Driving required
You'll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.