The key deliverable targets for this team are to ensure that timely, child-focussed assessments and interventions are made based on evidence and skilled understanding of risk. Responding to risk and new scenarios, and ensuring children are safe are central to the work. These teams are energetic, determined and lively. Supported by a passionate and supportive Head of Service who has joined Buckinghamshire from a ‘good’ local authority, our Assessment Teams offer the opportunity to develop highly effective ‘front door’ assessment skills that intervene well with children and their families to make an immediate difference.
Help and Protection Teams
These teams work with children and young people who live at home in Buckinghamshire and who are on Child Protection or ‘Child in Need’ plans. The key deliverable targets for this part of the service are to ensure sustainable and secure change is secured for children. This can only be achieved through strong partnership work and good quality plans. Assessments are based on the ‘Strengthening Families’ model of social work and the developing culture has a focus on families helping themselves to achieve change. Our Head of Service for Help and Protection is developing practice that reflects good assessment and social work based on inquisitive questioning.
Court Team
Our fantastic Head of Service (who also heads the Help & Protection teams) has an ambition for the Court team to become a centre of excellence for all care proceedings work. For this to be achieved, we are now looking for skilled and experienced practitioners who know what ‘good’ looks like in terms of gathering and writing up evidence. Strong written skills coupled with experience in taking the stand and giving oral evidence are required. Successful candidates will join an already strong and improving team to tackle some of the challenges ahead. With a diverse population, work is often complex and varied, providing an excellent training ground for the right candidates wanting to take the next step.
Children with Disabilities
Our CWD Service provides a wide range of supportive and statutory social work interventions. This includes casework that involves Looked After Children, Child Protection Planning and Children in Need. The new Head of Service is engaged in planning that improves transitions and joint working with SEN and CAMHS. The CWD teams are well established and are supported by a new and proactive Head of Service who is very ambitious for our children and young people. Staff in this part of the service will have a mixed caseload and will enjoy good support.
Children In Care
Our Children in Care Team is a large, busy service. Consisting of social workers, senior social workers and 16+ social workers, we take a child centred approach when working in partnership with children and their families.
Your role within the team will be to support children living with relatives, friend or foster families and prospective parents, living in children’s homes and semi-independent units. Through regular visits, assessments and by way of care plan review, you will nurture and develop meaningful relations with these children. We want you to understand and interpret their wishes whilst supporting and championing them to reach their full potential.
Occasionally, you will be required to prepare reports and attend court.
You will be supported in this challenging role with regular supervision. You will work alongside partnership organisations such as: Health Services, CAMHS, IRO’s and carers.
Contact and Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) Team
A busy fast paced Contact and MASH Team whose paramount objective is always a child's wellbeing and safety. The First Response duty service ensures referrals are responded to in a child-focussed and timely way. This means working in line with the Children Act 1989, and any other legislation and standards appropriate to the particular area of service delivery.
Our Development Journey
Buckinghamshire Children’s Services were re-inspected by Ofsted in November 2017 and was judged to be ‘inadequate’ overall, with the sub-judgements for adoption being ‘good’ and leaving care being ‘requires improvement to be good’. The Council was disappointed with the overall judgement and was quick to respond with the appointment of a new senior leadership team and an agreed improvement and development plan to address all the key priority areas.
This is a very exciting time to join us. Not only are we implementing new initiatives for better practice and positive outcomes for vulnerable children, we are also focusing on how we reward and retain our highly valued Social Workers via means of protected caseloads, high quality supervision, wellbeing support, approachable management and housing.
Read the outcome of our most recent OFSTED visit here.
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