Resettlement & Migration Social Worker-Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
10 days left to apply
Town Hall, 160 Whitechapel Road, LONDON (On-Site)
Permanent, Full time
Enhanced DBS check required
£42,855 - £54,135
35 Hours
About us
In Tower Hamlets we are committed to building relationships and strengthening families by working with people in a compassionate and understanding way. We are ambitious for Tower Hamlets children and families and endeavour for every child and young person to be healthy, safe, and successful.
Tower Hamlets is a progressive, ambitious, and diverse place to work. We place children and families at the heart of everything that we do and are relentless in our pursuit of positive outcomes for all.
Our Better Together Practice Framework is based on the ideas and concepts which underpin Restorative Practice and draws from other strength-based approaches, such as Systemic and Trauma Informed Practice.
Our C-Change approach: Connect, Curious, Community, Co-Produce, Collaborate, Check, sets out “6 Cs” for our work with children, young people their parents and carers, and each other.
About the role
Over the last two years we have seen over 3000 asylum seekers and refugees move into the borough. The team created to support these migrants is called the Resettlement & Migration team (RMT), we are looking to recruit a Social Worker to join the team.
The team offer wrap around support to all sanctuary seekers in Tower Hamlets including Ukrainian and Afghan refugees and asylum seekers. You will have to manage a caseload in addition to coordinating the multi-agency support provided to a hotel accommodating asylum seekers. This is a non-statutory role however you will be required to assess all unaccompanied children arriving into the borough from Ukraine. You will consider safeguarding needs of all sanctuary seekers you support and will make referrals to statutory agencies were necessary.
You will offer regular check-ins with those on the various resettlement schemes by telephone and home visits and provide full support to new residents ensuring that they are given all the necessary tools to settle in the borough. The team offer a duty line that is available for professionals and residents to contact should they wish to enquire about support available for a sanctuary seeker. You will be part of the duty rota.
The role is office based in Tower Hamlets Town Hall situated in vibrant Whitechapel. However, officers are expected to carry out duties in many different environments within the community including but not exhaustive to, family homes, schools, jobs centres and asylum hotels (some of which accommodate hundreds of single males). Travel cards are provided for journeys within working hours but not for journeys to and from work. The role is a permanent contract. You will be required to work from the office 5 days a week. There is no scope for hybrid working.
The social worker will have responsibility over the following areas:
1. Manage a caseload -ensuring that sanctuary seekers are supported to integrate into the community.
2. Assessing children who arrived in the country under the Homes for Ukraine following government and statutory legislation.
3. Identifying and assessing the needs of sanctuary seeking children, families and single adults and co-producing a plan to meet these needs.
4. Undertaking direct work with children, parents and single adults to integrate- e.g. work, education, housing, health and social care, social connections, language, safety, stability, rights and responsibilities, digital skills, and barriers to integration.
5. To undertake preventative work with newly arrived sanctuary seekers through one-to-one educational sessions on such as parenting skills, financial literacy, health education, risks of exploitation.
6. To facilitate support groups for the different cohorts of sanctuary seekers- in hotels, support groups for children, for parents, etc., sometimes in partnership with community groups and organisations.
7. Contribute to the effective running of the service, keeping records, providing data, and contributing the service KPI’s.
About you
· Experience of working with refugees and asylum seekers
· Experience of working with marginalised communities including both children and adults.
· Experience of carrying out client needs assessments, goal setting and progress reviews.
· Experience of making statutory referrals including adult safeguarding, children’s safeguarding and housing.
Requirements
For further information regarding the role, please contact Nicola Mutale, Asylum Seeker & Refugee Coordinator:
nicola.mutale@towerhamlets.gov.uk
How to apply
This post is open to candidates to apply directly – No referrals from agencies will be accepted.
Please fully complete the online application form via our recruitment portal Alvius. We will not consider applications which do not do this.
Additional Details
Tower Hamlets vision for our borough is that: people are aspirational, independent and have equal access to opportunities; we are a borough that our residents are proud of and love to live in; and we are a dynamic, outcomes-based council using digital innovation and partnership working to respond to the changing needs of our borough. We want people who aspire to our TOWER values: Together; Open; Willing; Excellent; Respect.
Tower Hamlets has a zero-tolerance approach to, and works to eradicate, all forms of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital status, status as a civil partner, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and maternity and looks to employ a diverse workforce representative of those groups. We recognise that people can also be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class.
We are a Disability Confident Employer, which means applicants who declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the post are guaranteed an interview. Care experience has also been adopted by the Council as an additional protected characteristic.
We welcome applicants interested in flexible working arrangements and also applicants who live in the borough.