Child Action Northwest (CANW) is an award-winning charity providing a range of innovative and creative services across the North of England that support children, families and vulnerable adults. CANW has been supporting children and young people for 130 years since the founding of the organisation in 1886. Our mission is to inspire lives and change futures. Our values of caring, empowerment, and never giving up are present in all we do and underpin our work. We believe in the power of the individual and communities to grow, develop and change.
We have a new and exciting opportunity within CANW for both full-time and part-time Residential Support Workers for our upcoming Residential Children’s Home. At this exciting point in growth for our charity, you will be responsible for providing day-to-day care for young people aged 8 to 17 with social and emotional mental health difficulties.
PURPOSE OF THE JOB
- Promote a safe and secure environment for children/young people and ensures that others adhere to policies, procedures, and working practices.
- To provide day-to-day care for young people aged 8 to 17 with social and emotional mental health difficulties.
- To establish a clear transition plan to rehabilitation to birth families, fostering or independent living. Responsible for ensuring that young people are prepared for and supported to reach independence.
- To foster a safe, secure, and accepting environment encouraging positive behaviour in all aspects of the young person's life.
- Ensure that the wishes and feelings of children/young people are considered in all aspects of their daily care and in accordance with their age and understanding. Ensure children and young people have forums to contribute to decisions about their lives.
- Provides opportunities for children/young people to learn, develop, and reach their full potential through regular and consistent access to education and wider experiences that will enrich their life.
- Support children/young people to maintain a good level of health and well-being whilst developing their awareness of areas that can negatively impact their well-being.
- Promotes the needs of each child/young person arising from their racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds. Enable children/young people to establish their own identity within their home environment.
- Responsible for the development, monitoring, and review of care plans with the young person, including risk assessments, ensuring that appropriate others are aware of the child/young person’s individual needs & requirements.
- Supports children/young people to maintain meaningful relationships with those important to them. Where appropriate. Supports children/young people to establish, develop, and maintain relationships and social networks outside of the home.
- Promote a safe, secure, and accepting environment for children/young people where positive behaviour is encouraged and praised.
- Provide appropriate and meaningful boundaries which support children/young people’s understanding of the benefits of positive behaviour on their own and others health, safety, and well-being. Responds consistently on a day-to-day basis to incidents of challenging behaviour and supports others to develop consistency in their own practice.
PRINCIPAL DUTIES
- Promotes open and effective relationships with children/young people where they can share concerns about their health, well-being and relationships. Promote health and well-being raising awareness of factors that can impact on it.
- Recognises signs and symptoms of abuse and harm and ensures that respectful observations are made of children/young people to ensure their safety is paramount.
- Ensure that disclosures of danger, harm, or abuse made by children/young people are responded to in a calm and sensitive manner and are accurately recorded and reported. Ensures that children/young people are openly and honestly informed of who will need to be contacted if a disclosure of danger, harm, or abuse is disclosed.
- Ensure that the wishes, feelings, and preferences of children/young people are listened to and considered whilst maintaining safeguarding practice. Support the young person to respectfully challenge decisions where the best interests of the child/young person are not being fully considered.
- Support children//young people in establishing their identity and ensuring their wishes are considered.
- To work in partnership with other agencies/professionals and seek to understand their individual roles and responsibilities. To collaborate with parents, carers, and other professionals to benefit the young person.
- To work in partnership with other agencies/professionals to devise, monitor and review care plans that promote the health, well-being, and protection of children/young people. Ensuring all significant information is shared with relevant professionals in the best interests of the child/young person whilst adhering to recognized confidentiality procedures.
- Support children/young people to actively engage in programs of support that are available through other agencies/professionals and ensure that they understand your responsibility to liaise with those professionals where appropriate.
- Support children/young people to pursue appropriate interests of their choice whilst ensuring their safety and well-being.
- In line with Data Protection Act 2018 maintain accurate, up-to-date records and reports for each child/young person and in line with Information Governance procedures for CANW.
- To identify and complete all appropriate documentation relevant to any given situation in all aspects of the role and supports others in this completion/task.
- To share information with children/young people in a manner that is appropriate to their age and understanding whilst remaining sensitive, respectful, and non-judgmental always.
- Provide appropriate and useful boundaries in relation to social media and internet safety and responding to areas of concern. Actively listening to what children/young people are saying about their experiences, respectfully enquire about areas that may be presenting concerns.
- To present in a professional manner and provide leadership and support in your role across the Residential Service and CANW.
ORGANISATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- Represent CANW at meetings, conferences and exhibitions as required.
- Provide a non-discriminatory service in line with best practice and legislative guidance and treat all who access CANW services fairly and equally.
- Be aware of the Health and Safety requirements in the workplace, and in particular, as it relates to own service area and/or department.
- Work within allocated budgets and agreed expenditure levels.
- Keep accurate records and provide written reports as required.
- Contribute to CANW’s operational and strategic development, including any organisation objectives identified through designated quality standards, such as Trusted Charity and Investors in People.
- Participate fully in personal supervision meetings and the annual appraisal process and undertake any training deemed necessary for the role.
- Review own delivery performance against agreed annual KPIs (key performance indicators), aiming to meet or exceed personal targets/performance levels.
- Undertake additional duties, training and/or hours of work as may be reasonably required which are deemed appropriate to the levels of responsibility within the role.
- Be aware of the safeguarding policy and procedure for children and vulnerable adults and ensure that the safeguarding of children, young people and adults is given the highest priority in the work undertaken.
- Have a personal responsibility to ensure that person identifiable, confidential or sensitive information is processed in line with GDPR and complies with any other relevant data protection legislation, organisational polices and best practice when processing information.
- Work outside of normal office hours (ie evenings and weekends) as and when required to meet the needs of service users as appropriate.
- Undertake other appropriate tasks as may be required of the post holder from time to time and provide cover for tasks during periods of sickness or holiday.
Alongside working for a charity like CANW that provides you with a sense of reward, fulfilment and passion, who go above and beyond to support the lives of children and young people, you will also receive a suite of benefits including;
- Salary £28,486 - £30,091 (Full Time - 37hrs per week, 148hrs in a 4 week period)
- Salary £28,486 - £30,091 Pro rata (Part Time – 25hrs per week 100hrs in a 4 week period)
- Company Sick Pay after probation period
- Enhanced Maternity / Paternity.
- Volunteering programme allowing 2 days to employees to get involved, fundraiseand give back to CANW.
- Discounted BUPA medical insurance paid through salary.
- Enhanced annual leave starting from 25 days, plus bank holidays, increasing by 1 day every year up to 30 days holiday.
- Holiday purchase scheme allowing an additional 5 days per year.
- Electric vehicle lease scheme
- A range of learning and development opportunities including our in house LMS System.
- Medicash Scheme, providing money back for medical prescriptions, optical and dental appointments and physio.
- Employee Assistance Programme allowing 24/7 access to external support and advice when needed.
- Benefits hub with exclusive retail, food and beverage discounts
- Reward, recognition and long service awards
Applicants that are not qualified to Diploma level 3 in Children and young people in residential care will have the opportunity to work towards there qualification with an expected completion date within two years of starting. The salary whilst the qualification is being undertaken is £24,699.76 with enhancements.
All roles within CANW have a responsibility for the safeguarding of children and adults.
Job documents:
Appropriate Adult - Lancashire
Child Action Northwest is an award winning charity providing a range of innovative and creative services across the North of England that support children, families and vulnerable adults. Our values of caring, empowerment, and never giving up are present in all we do and underpin our work. We believe in the power of the individual and communities to grow, develop and change.
Our Appropriate Adults come from all walks of life and we are always looking for more to join our team. We are looking for people who are caring and compassionate with excellent communication skills whilst supporting the most vulnerable within a custody environment.
To apply:
Please complete our online application form and upload an availability form via our website. This is an ongoing vacancy and will remain open until sufficient vacancies are filled.
For more information contact AA Coordinators Wendy Carson on 07717 858639 and Tony Hayden on 07788424782.
All roles within CANW have a responsibility for the safeguarding of children and adults. This role will be subject to an enhanced DBS check checked against the Children’s Barred List.