Children's Missing Advocate

Directorate - Children and Young People's Services

12 months Fixed Term Contract to cover maternity leave, Full Time, 37 hours per week. Monday-Friday 8:30-17:30

Now is the time to come and work for Rotherham Council Children and Young People’s Service. For more information about Rotherham Social Care jobs, please visit: https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/childrens-social-work-jobs

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Evolve Service in Rotherham. The Evolve Service compromises of a multiagency team including Social Workers, Missing Advocates, Police, Nurse and Family Support Workers and works with some of the most vulnerable young people in Rotherham who go missing from home or care and/or are victims of exploitation.

The successful candidate will be based in Rotherham and will work closely with the team to complete Return Home Interviews and direct work with children and young people in the borough.

There is a statutory duty on the local authority to ensure that return home interviews are undertaken with children and young people who have been missing from home or care. The purpose of these interviews is to identify risks to the young person; including the risk of sexual and/or criminal exploitation, to share safeguarding concerns to relevant agencies and to explore the circumstances that have led to a missing episode.

As a Missing Advocate, you will undertake high-quality interviews with young people to undertake a return home interview within 72 hours and record theinterview as a report for the responsible local authority. Some young people regularly go missing and therefore there is scope within this role to undertake preventative and longer-term pieces of work.

What we’re looking for

We are looking for someone who is able to engage with young people who have missing from home, advocate on their behalf and conduct return interviews within specified timescales. This is a fast-paced environment, and any candidate would need to be flexible, dynamic and be able to work as part of a multi-agency team. Communication and interpersonal skills, as well as experience of working in partnership with child, young people and their families and carers, is a key requirement for this role.

You will assess young people’s needs and provide harm reduction advice, information and signposting; encouraging engagement into specialist services; Develop and sustain productive relationships within Children’s Social Care and referring agencies to ensure the regular and appropriate referrals are received; Undertake one to one work with children and young people vulnerable to missing incidents to inform a risk reduction plan; Collect and report on information from all young people who are assessed; completing all required monitoring information by set timescales.

If you have any questions regarding this opportunity, please email them to alexia.barber@rotherham.gov.ukor joanne.mccartan@rotherham.gov.uk

Closing date: 8th November 2026

Interviews are planned to be held: 17th November 2026

This post involves working with children and therefore if successful you will be required to apply for a disclosure of criminal records check at an enhanced level. Further information about the Disclosure Scheme can be found at www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our workforce, and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. For further information, please visit our website.