Job Title: Adolescent Practitioner
Starting Salary: £34,434 progressing to £37,280 pa pro rata
Hours: 18.5
Location: Hemel Hempstead covering Dacorum and St Albans
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Childrens Services
You will work directly with children and their families requiring support, help or protection, to navigating challenging and difficult situations that may be occurring in their lives.
You will be responsible for organising and coordinating the Team Around the Family using the Common Assessment Framework.
You may also be required to work alongside Social Workers to complete pieces of work with children or families who are being supported under the legal frameworks of Child In Need, Child Looked After and Child Protection.
As an Adolescent Practitioner you will provide support and help to:-
- Children aged 16 – 17 years old who are at risk of or have experienced homelessness.
- Children aged 11 – 17 at risk of significant harm due to extra familial harm including but not limited to exploitation, serious youth violence, modern slavery, and trafficking.
- Children aged 11 – 17 at risk of being accommodated by the Local Authority due extra – familial concerns.
- Children aged 11 – 17 who require additional support following an admission to a Tier 4 Adolescent Mental Health facility.
Multi agency working is essential to enhancing support and improving outcomes for the children and families that we work with consequently you will work closely with other professionals to ensure that children and families that we work with receive the right response and an effective service.
You will be expected to undertake comprehensive assessments, implement and coordinate action plans, and will have a number of children and families assigned to you, who you will complete direct interventions with.
The post will require the successful candidate to build relationships with children, and their families based on their individual needs, responding to their heritage, neuro diversity, learning style and self-identity enabling them to achieve positive change and be safe.
Essential:
- An understanding of the child first / child focused approach and have the ability to build positive relationships with children and parent/carers.
- Ability to meaningfully engage and communicate effectively with children as well as a range of individuals including parent/carers, victims, wider professionals and external agencies.
- Self-motivated and able to organise and effectively manage own workload.
- Experience of dealing with conflict and problem solving.
- Experience of contributing to multi-agency meetings.
- Strong IT, organisation and communication skills to record and maintain confidential and accurate records on both case management systems and Excel spreadsheets; coproduce intervention plans, reports and correspondence.
- You will be required to travel, so a driving licence and access to a vehicle is essential.
- Experience and a sound knowledge of relevant legislation and policies relating to children and their families within a social care setting.
This is an incredible opportunity to make a real difference in children’s lives at a critical time. As an Adolescent Practitioner, you will be on the front line, helping children navigate challenges, make safer choices, and find a path towards a brighter future.
Your work will directly impact not only the children you support, but also their families and the wider community. If you are passionate about shaping young lives and have the drive to inspire change, this is a role where you can truly make a positive impact and leave a lasting legacy.
We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.
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 meera.parmar@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.
Interview Date: 5th November
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.
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.
