Overview
The Service & Team: The Disabled Children & Therapy Service (DC&TS) is a specialist, multi-disciplinary service which supports disabled children, young people and their families whose main need for services arises from their disability or their intrinsic condition, where these conditions have a substantial or critical impact on the quality of the child’s/young person’s life or/and the lives of their families. The service intervenes where children’s needs cannot be fully met by universal services alone; it includes a statutory social care service that undertakes assessments that provides services at the acute and complex level of need, and services at Tier 2 through Early Support, Portage and Supporting Change in Partnership (SCIP). The Cornwall Portage Team is a member of the National Portage Association (NPA) and is rated as a 5-star service. The Portage model is characterised by regular home visiting, partnership with parents and a focus on the child’s all-round development. Portage helps parents/carers to enable their young child’s learning and to maximise their potential in their community. Portage uses a strength-based approach and supports parents/carers to learn about and recognise their child’s abilities and strengths.
The Role: Portage is a home visiting service for children aged from birth to 3 years with additional complex support needs and their families. The service has been running in Cornwall for over 30 years and is highly regarded by families and professionals. Senior Portage Workers work alongside families to help them develop a quality of life and experience, for themselves and their young children, in which they can learn together, play together, participate and be included in their community in their own right. Senior Portage Workers play a part in minimising the disabling barriers that confront young children and their families. Support offered through Portage is based on the principle that parents/carers are the key figures in the care and development of their child. Portage Workers help parents/carers to be confident in their role whatever their child's needs may be. Senior Portage Workers visit families weekly or fortnightly at home and use adapted Developmental Journals to identify a child’s strengths and goals to support their development. They also run groups for families to reduce feelings of isolation and form new friendships. Senior Portage Workers use the Portage model to support individual child and family needs to highlight what is working well, finding out and building on what a child can do. Parents take the lead in planning their goals ensuring that your support is relevant to the needs of their child and family. Goals may focus on developing their movement, learning, play, communication and participation in the activities of everyday living. Senior Portage Workers are committed to using the Early Support Team Around the Child process and working alongside large teams of multi-agency professionals to coordinate support for children and their families. Senior Portage Workers are responsible for ensuring that the children they work with have the support they need to take them forward in their next steps. This includes applications for Education, Health Care Plans and transition planning. Senior Portage Workers are part of the Disabled Children & Therapy Service (DC&TS) which is a specialist, multi-disciplinary team that supports disabled children, young people and their families.
Senior Portage Workers supervise Portage Workers and provide professional support and reflective supervision. They also lead on the delivery of Cornwall’s Portage Awareness training.
Senior Portage Workers work under the direction of the Disabled Children’s Team Leads and hold case responsibility for undertaking direct work with disabled children aged 0 to 3 years and their parents/carers.
Senior Portage Workers are expected to attain and utilise a range of evidence-based approaches and intervention skills drawn from the core curriculum such as Signs of Safety, Motivational Interviewing, the Family Partnership Model and use a solution focused, goal orientated approach to implement the Portage model.
This is a public/customer-facing role, where the statutory English language requirement for public sector workers applies.
This position will be subject to an enhanced criminal record disclosure check.
Working Pattern:
37 hours per week. Monday to Friday.
What you’ll need to succeed
Recognised, accredited and relevant qualification (e.g. NVQ 3 or equivalent) in a related field of study/practice: child development, NNEB, early years.
Substantial track record of a high standard of detailed practical knowledge, experience and skills in working with disabled children and their families in the early years sector.
Be able to demonstrates a thorough understanding of child development (0-4 years), the Portage model and a small steps approach to setting SMART targets for children with Special Educational Needs and disabilities.
Please read the role profile for the full details of this role attached below in this advert
What you’ll get in return
Cornwall Council’s ambition is to be an employer of choice, a high performing Council and a learning organisation. We commit to providing a reward and benefits package to attract, motivate and reward our employees. We offer a range of flexible working options to our staff. This helps provide our employees with a greater work/life balance. Whilst still ensuring that service needs are met.
Our core employee rewards and benefits include:
* A competitive salary.
* A defined benefit pension scheme, based on your career average earnings. This includes the option for extra voluntary contributions
* A generous annual leave entitlement with the potential to purchase additional leave.
* A national award-winning employee health and wellbeing programme
* Employee benefits scheme giving employees access to a wide range of discounts to local and national goods and services.
Additional Information:
Cornwall Council is unable to offer visa sponsorship or transfer existing sponsorship for this role.
The full role profile is attached here
We recommend saving a copy of this to refer to if you are invited to an interview.
For more information or an informal chat about the role please contact:
Nathan Wilce, Disabled Children's Family Help Manager.
nathan.wilce@cornwall.gov.uk
07837311551
Application Process
Please attach a supporting statement to your application, you can add your Education & Qualifications details manually using the application form timeline or you can upload your CV. Remember to demonstrate why you are suitable against each of the points marked as ‘Application’ on the Role Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had. Guidance on how to complete your application can be found here – The application process.
Please note that applications cannot be edited after they have been submitted, please contact careers@cornwall.gov.uk if you have any queries or require assistance with your application.
Existing employees must apply using their Cornwall Council email address through the Opportunity Marketplace on Oracle.
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