Principal Social Worker (Grade 9)

Job Description

Job Title : Principal Social Worker (Grade 9)
Job Category : Social Care – Qualified
Location : County Hall, Cardiff Council
Hours Per Week : 37.00
Start Date : Immediate start
Start Time : 09:00
End Time : 17:00
Salary: £21.98

We are looking for a Principal Social Worker which will focus on Court Work.
You will be a case holding social worker working with approximately 10/11 children (4/5 families) who are subject to care proceedings. You will be responsible for all aspects of the case management including statutory visiting, care planning and review, and court.
You will work with children and their families to assist in decision making for Children to remain at home or return home to their parents. Assessments will need to consider the current risks and associated protective factors whilst also identifying the likelihood of sustained change within the child’s timescales.
You will have experience of working with children subject to care proceedings and their families and produce work of an excellent standard which provides recommendations based upon sound evidence based analysis.
You will have undertaken assessments using the DOH Framework of assessment and have knowledge and understanding of the principals of the NSPCC Reunification framework. You will understand the impact of trauma both on parents’ capacity and on the child’s needs and be able to ascertain if the parent(s) has capacity to meet the needs of the individual child. You will require the skills to overcome barriers to engagement during the assessment process and tailor your assessments to the learning styles of parents.
Your assessments will draw upon the knowledge of other professionals working with the child and their family and exploring the informal support networks available to the parents to assist them in the parenting role.

You will need:
• A Degree or Masters in Social Work
• Experience of working within a Child Health & Disability Team
• Experience of providing supervision to students and staff
The main duties of the post holder will be:
• Working alongside a multi-agency team of professionals, in partnership with families.
• To take a lead in the team using the Signs of Safety approach to social work practice
• To encourage and support the team in adopting the Signs of Safety approach
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of effective systems to ensure quality services.
• Engagement with MASH in relation to referrals, supervising Wellbeing Assessments and Section 47 investigation.
• Working in a multiagency capacity to support families
• Attend alongside the social worker at Child Protection Case Conferences
• Provide a consultation role on practice issues for staff and, where appropriate, managers
• Provide specialist advice and support across the team.
• Provide supervision, mentoring and coaching to staff within Children’s Services as required and support other staff with students on placement to ensure good quality placements and development of the workforce
• Take responsibility for delegated decision making appropriate to the role.