ADDITIONAL ROLE INFORMATION
Family hubs serve as a localised approach to coordinating the planning and delivery of family services. They integrate various services to enhance accessibility, strengthen connections between families, professionals, and service providers, and prioritise relationships in family support. These hubs provide assistance to families from conception up to the age of two, and support those with children of all ages, specifically from 0-19, or up to 25 for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), featuring a robust Start for Life initiative at their core.
Sandwell Family Hubs:
Barnardo’s is honoured to participate in delivering Sandwell’s Family Hubs across the Borough. The service offers a variety of high-quality services tailored to meet the needs of the families, designed specifically for the six town areas of the Borough, which are grouped into three clusters:
Cluster A: Oldbury, Smethwick
Cluster B: Tipton, Rowley Regis
Cluster C: Wednesbury and West Bromwich
We are committed to providing a comprehensive service for communities and residents, aimed at enhancing access, minimising engagement barriers, and fostering resilient communities.
As a Start for Life Practitioner, you will play a crucial role in developing relationships with families as they transition through the different stages of parenthood, covering the period from newborn to age 2, in alignment with Sandwell’s Start for Life initiative. (For this position, "parents" refers to parents, caregivers, co-parents, and guardians.)
Objectives/Key Activities:
1. Collaborate within the Health, Well-being, and Engagement team to deliver a wide array of services aimed at enhancing the health and well-being of parents, caregivers, children, and families. This includes various activities designed to:
2. Support families as part of the Pregnancy Pathway
3. Provide Early Help to families with children from birth to age 2, ensuring inclusion of fathers and co-parents
4. Serve as a Key Worker, acting as a point of contact for families
5. Assist with Perinatal Mental Health and Parent-Infant Relationship, connecting with other perinatal mental health support networks and receiving training to implement interventions. You will achieve this by collaborating with colleagues to:
6. Enhance the knowledge, guidance, and preparation of parents-to-be and caregivers regarding parenting and key developmental stages
7. Conduct universal well-being checks for new parents
8. Foster maternal and paternal emotional well-being, encouraging the formation of informal support networks during the antenatal and postnatal periods
9. Support bonding and attachment during pregnancy and afterwards
10. Boost breastfeeding initiation and continuation at 6-8 weeks
11. Advocate for healthy lifestyle choices during pregnancy
12. Assist new parents in the area with family support, interventions, advice, and guidance
13. Direct pregnant parents to ante-natal education programs
14. Guide families to engage with universal and targeted services in Sandwell, including financial assistance options like Tax-Free Child Care and Universal Credit Child Care
15. Facilitate connections with teams focused on Home Learning Environments and Speech and Language development
16. Promote Perinatal and Mental health support strategies, breaking down barriers to accessing universal services to enhance outcomes for children and families
17. Expand services and opportunities for marginalised local groups, parents, caregivers, and communities
18. Collaborate with volunteers and peer support to implement diverse and innovative support strategies
19. Encourage active library membership for children under 5 years old
20. Utilise the Outcomes Star as an assessment tool for Early Help support and maintain records on EHM
21. Act as a keyworker for families from pre-birth to age 2
22. Comprehend the effects of parental conflict or domestic abuse and provide appropriate referrals for support
23. Advocate for oral health by serving as an Oral Health Champion
24. Deliver one-on-one/group programs/sessions in homes/hubs, providing practical, hands-on support for children and families
25. Collaborate with broader Family Hub teams to address service needs across the borough
26. Engage in reflective supervision, performance development reviews (PDRs), and take responsibility for updating knowledge, applying it in practice, and enhancing skills to meet service needs
27. Be prepared to work evenings and weekends as required to fulfil service demands
28. Undertake any other duties deemed appropriate to meet the needs of the service within your role
All applications to be submitted through the link below:
https://jobs.barnardos.org.uk/jobs/vacancy/21569/description
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