Family Safeguarding Domestic Abuse Worker

The Team

The Family Safeguarding Adult Team is integrated into Children's Social Care services, providing intervention with parents & carers to actively support change, with the intention to help more children to live safely at home.

Portsmouth City Council Children's Services is committed to promoting a multi - disciplinary, 'whole family' approach to safeguarding and reunification in Portsmouth.We want families to bring up their children to be safe and well, offering support to prevent the need for care, reduce the length of care when it is required, and to always strive for children to return home whenever it is safe and, in the child's best interest to do so.

The Role

The post holder will:

Be a Family Safeguarding Domestic Abuse Worker co-located in one of the Family Safeguarding and Support Teams or the Building Your Futures Team. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team of children’s Social Workers and other adult workers (including Mental Health and Recovery Workers) to safeguard parents/carers and their children.

Be responsible for assessing, planning, and delivering interventions to parents/carers whose children are open to Children's Social Care and have used or experienced unhealthy or abusive behaviours in their relationships.This will include working holistically, responding to a range of adult needs affecting parenting capacity. Be flexible and responsive to deploy specialist domestic abuse behaviour change interventions.

Be responsible for day-to-day service delivery, ensuring that people who experience domestic abuse (including those who use unhealthy/abusive behaviours) are provided with timely assessments and receive appropriate support to meet their needs as part of a multi-disciplinary plan.

Co-create a schedule of working, including providing guidance to other professionals and working within a Team Around the Worker model, incorporating a strengths-based model of positive 'risk management'. Undertake specialist needs and risk assessments.Provide a responsive and effective service to individuals who may be in crisis or in need of safety planning.

Work alongside colleagues and partners within the multi-disciplinary team and external organisations to develop and deliver interventions that aim to support children and young people to remain living at home, or to return home, when safe to do so. This includes contributing to the assessment, analysis and review of the impact of needs and harm for children as well as their parents / carers.

Ensure a consistent and timely response to safeguarding in line with legislation, local and nationalprocedures, maintaining a focus on both child and adult safeguarding.

Deliver interventions using a restorative and strengths-based approach, including using Motivational Interviewing.

Hybrid working attendance requirements - This role is office based

The ideal candidate

Will have/be

Hold an IDVA, or relevant vocational qualification, and / or be experienced in working with domestic abuse and willing to undertake relevant training as necessary and appropriate.

Experience, knowledge and understanding of adults and children's safeguarding procedures. Have the ability to build and maintain empowering strengths-based relationships with adults.

Knowledge and experience of working with diverse communities; be adaptable, flexible, and inclusive to meet a range of parental needs, considering and addressing inequalities and social exclusion.Demonstrate your knowledge and experience working directly with families across the life span, including impact of adult needs on child development. Have a respectful and inclusive approach to families, carers, colleagues, and other professionals.

An up-to-date knowledge of research, relevant legislation, ethical issues, strategic frameworks, and current guidelines regarding the range of presenting needs relevant to domestic abuse. Have a good knowledge of Data Protection, information sharing and an understanding of confidentiality.

Skills in the use of complex methods of assessment of need.Have skills in applying theory to practice and the ability to use a range of models in formulating and delivering support plans. Have confidence in delivering group work and/or teaching and developing practice.

Able to communicate effectively within a multi-professional team as well as the ability to work autonomously. Be able to work within a busy environment, manage stress and respond to competing demands.Able to apply practice governance, as appropriate, when supporting families through highly emotive and challenging circumstances.Have an understanding of Motivational Interviewing and Restorative Practice and be willing to undertake further training and development.

Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement on your application.

Application process

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience.

We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal.We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

About Portsmouth City Council

What we can offer you:

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our careers portal homepage: Careers Portal - Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council iscommittedto safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers tosharethiscommitment.

DBS Disclosure at Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.

Should you require anysupportin completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk. or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616800