Parent Liaison Officer

BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN – PARENT LIAISON OFFICER

Job Title:
Responsible to:
Hours of work:
Location:
Benefits:

Parent Liaison Officer
Head of Parent Services
22.5 including the occasional evenings and weekends
Blackburn with Darwen

•  Holidays/entitlement: 25 days (pro rata), plus 3 days between

Christmas and New Year, plus bank holidays

•  Pension scheme 8% employer’s contribution from April 2020.
•  Extensive training package

ROLE
You will work with multi-agency partners tackling child exploitation as an independent
source of support and contact for parents whose children are being sexually and
criminally exploited external to the family, liaising between statutory agencies and
families in order to maximise the ability of all parties to safeguard a child at risk of/or
being sexually and criminally exploited.

MAIN RESPONSIBILTIES

1.  To work with multi-agency partners, attend team briefings, and take on

referrals of parents whose children are at risk of/or are being sexually and
criminally exploited.

2.  To form and maintain professional, supportive, empowering relationships with

the parents/carers affected by child sexual exploitation.

3.  To liaise on behalf of individual parents/carers.
4.  To maintain good professional practice and ensure ongoing development,

through use of supervision and training.

5.  To establish, maintain and develop good working relations with professionals

and organisations both statutory and voluntary.

6.  To adhere to Ivison Trustpolicies including equal opportunities and diversity.
7.  To challenge prejudice towards families affected by sexual and criminal

exploitation within the wider community through talks etc.

8.  To advise other professionals of good practice issues related to working with

parents/carers of sexually exploited young people.

Ivison Trust
Unit 2
Killingbeck Drive,
Leeds LS14 6UF.

Phone 0113 240 3040
Email info@ivisontrust.org.uk
www.ivisontrust.org.uk

Registered Charity No. 1092560.
Company limited by guarantee in
England & Wales No. 4249272.

SPECIFIC DUTIES

1.  Work with parents affected by child sexual and criminal exploitation

1.  To work with multi-agency partners, attend team briefings, and take on
referrals of parents whose children are at risk of/or are being sexually
/criminally exploited.

2.  To work with parents to ascertain the level of appropriate emotional and

practical support they require.

3.  To form and maintain supportive, empowering relationships with the parents
affected by CCE/CSE to build their self-esteem, confidence, knowledge and
resilience to enable them to maintain the family unit and effectively
safeguard their child.  To acknowledge and respect the crucial role in
safeguarding that they bring.

4.  To equip parents with information and understanding of the processes by

which children and young people are groomed and coerced into exploitation.

5.  To provide information to parents about the roles of safeguarding

practitioners and keep them abreast of the response to their case where
appropriate.

6.  To act as a bridge between the agencies and parents, taking on an advocacy
role for individual parents with services, and feeding back information from
parents into the team where this is appropriate.

7.  To give support and information to families going through the judicial

process, from referral of their case to the Crown Prosecution Service through
to post-trial re-adjustment.

8.  To respond appropriately and effectively to any child

protection/safeguarding concerns as and when they arise.

9.  To participate in Common Assessment Framework (CAF), Team Around the

Child (TAC), child protection and other formal support processes for
parents/carers when required.

10. Link parents/carers and where necessary, other family members, into services
and support appropriate to their needs (i.e. health services, training, positive
activities, counselling).

11.  Link parents /carers to Ivison Trust support networks including the volunteer
befriending programme, the online forum, Parent Network Days, and the
opportunity to contribute to policy consultations or Ivison Trust events as
appropriate.

12. To fulfil targets and objectives agreed by Ivison Trust and the Engage Team.

Ivison Trust
Unit 2
Killingbeck Drive,
Leeds LS14 6UF.

Phone 0113 240 3040
Email info@ivisontrust.org.uk
www.ivisontrust.org.uk

Registered Charity No. 1092560.
Company limited by guarantee in
England & Wales No. 4249272.

2.  External relations, training and networking

1.  To promote and maintain good public relations with local partner agencies on

behalf of Ivison Trust.

2.  To attend relevant forums and meetings as appropriate.
3.  To liaise with appropriate professionals and organisations and work
collaboratively to establish a network of support for parents/carers.
4.  To undertake talks, develop and deliver training to professional groups,

voluntary and statutory agencies and other appropriate groups.

5.  To promote an understanding of the needs of parents/carers of sexually and

criminally exploited children within the wider community.

6.  To develop and deliver a programme of preventative education for

parents/carers in partnership with Engage partners and other agencies.

3.  Professional practice and development

1.  To participate in regular line-management supervision and annual appraisal with

the Head of Parent Services at Ivison Trust, and peer mentoring from other Ivison
Trust co-located staff.

2.  To maintain effective data inputting and information management procedures for

the purpose or monitoring and evaluation.

3.  To undertake and write up risk assessments, maintaining accurate records

and preparing reports.

4.  To participate in case review and monitoring and evaluation meetings and

providing information as required.

5.  Consulting with parents/carers on the effectiveness of the services and

involving them in planning changes and the development of new programmes
etc.

6.  To uphold client confidentiality as per guidelines.
7.  To keep up to date with research and practice and undertake regular training
to maintain and develop the skills and knowledge necessary for this post, in
agreement with the Head of Parent Services at Ivison Trust.

8.  To participate in occasional national work of Ivison Trust - for example,
research, policy consultations, training delivery - in order to maintain
professional development and ethos around parent support.

4.  Team

1.  To attend and participate in briefings.
2.  To attend and participate in bi-monthly team meetings at Ivison Trust.
3.  To maintain a flexible approach to work, to ensure consistency in working

with parents/carers.

4.  To have a flexible approach to workings hours, as this post will involve

occasional unsociable hours, including some evening and weekend work.

Ivison Trust
Unit 2
Killingbeck Drive,
Leeds LS14 6UF.

Phone 0113 240 3040
Email info@ivisontrust.org.uk
www.ivisontrust.org.uk

Registered Charity No. 1092560.
Company limited by guarantee in
England & Wales No. 4249272.

5.  General tasks and responsibilities of all Ivison Trust staff

1.  To undertake any other duties commensurate with the post as agreed with the

Head of Parent Services.

2.  To carry out all the above accordance with the vision, mission and ethos of Ivison

Trust, and within the business plan and policies of the organisation.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

Desirable

Knowledge of local networks and
the different communities living
in North Yorkshire.

•

•

•

•

Experience of working with
parents and carers.
Experience of working with
issues of child sexual and
criminal exploitation.
Experience of involving those
with whom you work in planning
/ designing / implementing
services.

Experience of practice-based
risk assessment within direct
service provision.

Knowledge /
Qualifications

Experience

•  An understanding of issues faced by young

•

people and their families particularly in relation to
exploitation and abuse.
Knowledge of safeguarding agencies and LSP
roles
Knowledge of child protection procedures
Relevant qualification, i.e. social care, probation,
health, criminology.
Experience of working with vulnerable people.
Experience of safeguarding practice and working
within child protection and information sharing
protocols.
Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary
/ multi agency framework.

•

•
•

•
•

•

Abilities

•
IT, internet and social media literate.
•  Ability to produce written reports of an
appropriate standard for funders and
management.

•  Ability to deliver presentations and training to a

range of audiences.

Circumstances

•  Drivers licence and ability to travel to a variety of

Values

locations.

•  Willing to undertake required professional

training in line with industry standards (this may
necessitate a personal time commitment)

•  Able to work unsociable hours.

•  Commitment to the ethos of Pace, working with
parents as valued partners in tackling child sexual
and criminal exploitation.
Be able to show an understanding of and
commitment to, working in an Equal
Opportunities framework, including anti-racist
and anti-discriminatory professional practice.

•

Ivison Trust
Unit 2
Killingbeck Drive,
Leeds LS14 6UF.

Phone 0113 240 3040
Email info@ivisontrust.org.uk
www.ivisontrust.org.uk

Registered Charity No. 1092560.
Company limited by guarantee in
England & Wales No. 4249272.

Ivison Trust
Unit 2
Killingbeck Drive,
Leeds LS14 6UF.

Phone 0113 240 3040
Email info@ivisontrust.org.uk
www.ivisontrust.org.uk

Registered Charity No. 1092560.
Company limited by guarantee in
England & Wales No. 4249272.