We are hiring Children's Social Workers for our Private / Public Law and/or WAFH teams.
Working in the Private/Public Law teams, Children's Social Workers (or as we will professionally call you - Family Court Advisers) are involved in a combination of cases where either the families require the assistance to agree on the best arrangements for the welfare and safety of the child(ren) involved or the local authority has serious concerns and requests the involvement of Cafcass in the case.
In the Work After First Hearing team, you'll use your social work skills and experience to understand what the child needs, wants and feels. You'll then advise the Family Courts on the best course of action for the child by providing confident, powerful and succinct written case analysis and make recommendations to the court. You'll also attend court and be an advocate for the child, ensuring their voice is not lost.
Children's Social Workers key responsibilities include:
Conducting assessments and directly engaging with children to understand and represent their views and wishes to the court.
Using expertise in robust risk assessment and mediation will be essential as you advocate for arrangements that prioritise the best interest of the children.
Who we're looking for
Relevant Social Work qualification is essential
You must be registered with Social Work England (Cafcass reimburses costs of this annual cost)
You'll have demonstrable, relevant experience of working with children and families in a social work setting
Experience in Family Court proceedings and understanding of Private and/or Public Law would be an advantage
Organised and resilient with ability to work independently and managing workload effectively
Location
Whilst you may see these roles have contractual base in our Reading or Oxford office, our teams work flexibly and remotely, your proximity to the office doesn't always have to be a critical consideration. This hopefully will allow you to work in a way that suits you best.
We provide the resources, equipment, and support, so that individually and collectively, we can be the voice of children and young people when the family court makes critical decisions about their futures.
We provide extensive wellbeing support for colleagues, as well as excellent benefits, all of which we hope encourages you to work within our dedicated team.
The advertised salary reflects our 2024/25 pay award. We are awaiting confirmation of our 2025/26 when salaries will be updated to reflect this.
Next steps / Timelines
Applications will be promptly reviewed and if we wish to progress your interest, we will look to arrange a convenient time for your interview as soon as we can.
Vacancy Contact -
In anticipation of your successful application, we encourage you to review our offer and pre-employment checks process. You are welcome to raise any questions or concerns about these checks during your application, with the assurance that this information will remain confidential.
Successful applicants will undergo various pre-engagement checks, including a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS). In line with the DBS code of practice and our policy, if a criminal offence is declared, an individual assessment will be conducted. For further details regarding this assessment, please refer to the Cafcass DBS policy.
We look forward to receiving your application!
We are Cafcass - the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service - and we represent children in family court cases in England.
Independently advising the family courts about what is safe for children and in their best interests, we speak up for over 140,0000 children every year when the family court makes critical decisions about their futures, ensuring their needs, wishes and feelings are heard.
Watch our video to find out we don't just listen to children's voices but we can be their voice.