Inclusion Specialist - Deaf and Hearing Support Service

Job Title: Inclusion Specialist - Deaf and Hearing Support Service
Starting Salary: £31,537 progressing to £34,434 pa pro rata
Hours: 22 hours per week, term time only
Location: Hemel Hempstead - with flexible working
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Childrens Services

About the team

Do you enjoy working closely with families to enable deaf children to thrive? Can you offer a supportive and knowledgeable professional presence in homes and settings whilst working collaboratively with Qualified Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People?
You can play a part in Hertfordshire’s vision to deliver services that have positive outcomes for the community, striving to empower citizens and communities, who are at the centre of everything we do.
Our well-established service is looking for an Inclusion Specialist to join the Deaf and Hearing Support Service to work with deaf children, young people and their families to deliver services to meet their needs.

About the role

You will work within the Deaf and Hearing Support Service to:

• Offer one-to-one home visits with parents to accurately assess their needs and offer them family centred support in parenting a deaf baby.
• Help to set up parent support groups for deaf babies and children.
• Encourage and support parents in maintaining parent led groups.
• Provide information, advice and guidance to families about communication choices to support language acquisition.
• Collaborate with other practitioners in the team around the child in order to support the best outcomes for the child and the family.
• Be able to present to groups of both parents and professionals.

This role involves actively taking on board the views of the people of Hertfordshire, respecting the diversity of communities and acting on their feedback to improve their access to deaf services. Therefore, you’ll need to be able to work under pressure and be extremely well organised, taking a pro-active approach to your workload.

About you

Essential:

• Experience working with families, ideally including deaf children.
• Comprehensive knowledge and practical application of safeguarding procedures, confidentiality, and data protection.
• Strong understanding and experience of child development.
• Clear grasp of family-centred practice principles.
• Good knowledge of language development and acquisition.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a team.
• Good organisational skills and ability to manage your workload effectively.
• Excellent communication skills with people of all backgrounds.
• Experience in accurate record-keeping and using databases, with a solid understanding of data protection protocols.

Desirable:

• Knowledge of British Sign Language (BSL) Level 1 is desirable, or a willingness to learn.

Join us in making a meaningful difference – providing individualised support to deaf children and families in their homes and signposting them in times of need. If this sounds like the opportunity for you, we would love to hear from you!

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 HSC8 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Health and social care

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

Interview Date: w/c 15th December tbc

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.

Additional information

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.

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.