SHINE Complex Safeguarding Team Social Worker

Working Pattern: Full time / Fixed term 12 months

Location: Borough-wide, main office locations Trafford Town Hall or Sale Waterside

Interview Date/Type: Face to face

About the Role

Here in Trafford Children’s Services our vision is that our teams are offering the right help at the right time, and that at all levels our interventions make life better for children and families. We are ambitious for our children and for our practitioners - and our core value is ‘would this be good enough for my child’?

We want to have practitioners and managers who are confident and brave in their practice and are supported by strong leaders at all levels. As a relatively small local authority, we pride ourselves on our friendly teams, manageable caseloads, creative approach and colleagues who support each other. We were pleased to see this recognised in the Ofsted report that followed our ILACS inspection in late 2022, which highlighted that “social workers in Trafford are overwhelmingly positive about both the local authority and the support they receive.”

In Trafford our approach is strengths-based, using relational and restorative practice. Our recent Ofsted report referred to our "relational model of social work practice, which is well regarded by the wider workforce, has been successfully implemented.”

We believe that a culture and environment in which our managers and social workers can thrive is an essential element of improving outcomes for children and families. To support this, we have invested in a 3-year programme with relational specialists Strengthening Practice to provide ongoing training and enhance our social workers’ personal development. Our 2023 Ofsted report recognised this, noting a “cultural shift (that) has been underpinned by a strong training offer to support social workers to develop the skills they need to provide a better service to children”.

About You

We are looking for a complex safeguarding social worker with significant experience and knowledge working with vulnerable adolescents, tenacious practice and initiative in developing trusted relationships with some of our hardest to reach children and young people, utilising a strengths-based, relational and trauma informed approach.

As a Social Worker within the SHINE Complex Safeguarding Team, you will carry a small (7 to 10), complex caseload of young people open to SHINE. Your support will be provided alongside an allocated social worker, and interventions coordinated with multi-agency colleagues reflective of the child’s needs, safety and trusted relationships.

Your role will also include supporting wider disruption interventions, missing from home return interviews where required, activities aligned to weeks of action within the multi-agency service, partnership and training events, service briefings both within Trafford and linked to the wider Greater Manchester Complex Safeguarding Hub. You will be an integral member of a strong, experienced team that provide a high level of peer support and collective understanding of the risks and challenges when working with victims and children vulnerable to child exploitation.

You will be required to complete three-monthly WISE assessments for the young people you are supporting with information from the multi-agency professionals embedded within the team and ensure that this is triangulated within the young person's wider plan. There will be an expectation to ensure every child has a clinical formulation with the trusted relationships psychotherapist within the team. You will also be required to support quality assurance activities within the team as required.

You will also have an understanding and experience of protocols associated with child exploitation such as disruption activities and the National Referral Mechanism; you will be required to work closely with the Police and Health daily.

Confidence is required in relation to skills working with external agencies and other local authorities, this is a key component of the role. There is also a commitment required to ensure that the successful candidate remains engaged in current changes within the practice area of child exploitation, reflecting the ever-changing nature of the risks impacting our children and young people.

Additional Information

This advert may close early if we receive a high number of applications, so please apply as soon as possible.

Find Out More.

For the full details of this opportunity, please refer to the role profile linked below.

If you would like to be considered for this position and would like an informal discussion please contact Dawn Fallows, Head of Service for Vulnerable Adolescents on 07484987435.