Description
Senior Practitioner (Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry)
City Chambers
Salary: £46,023 - £54,476
Hours: 36 per week, 52 weeks
As a Senior Practitioner (Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry) within the Council's Information Governance Unit, you will support care-experienced individuals in accessing their care files through the statutory Subject Access Request process. You will also support care-experienced individuals in accessing redress for any adverse time in care.
You will work in strengths-based and trauma-informed ways to get alongside care-experienced individuals, their families, and carers, in order to support them in obtaining what they require for restoration and keep them safe. You will work with the Council's Information Rights Team and Records & Archives Team to explain complex Data Protection and Social Work concepts and processes to care experienced requesters so they understand their rights, while also managing their expectations on what they might find due to historic record-keeping issues.
You will support care-experienced people with potentially complex needs and trauma to access their client files. As a lead professional, you will assess each person's needs and risks, and work with families, carers, colleagues and partner agencies to remove barriers. Safety and wellbeing always come first. Building trust and positive relationships drives change and better outcomes. In this post, you will empower care-experienced individuals by recognising their existing support systems and helping them maintain these networks as they navigate difficult material in their files and the memories that come from engaging with this content. The role requires preparing clear, evidence-based, risk-assessed reports within required timescales while also working jointly with partner agencies, including schools, the NHS, the police, and third-sector organisations. This collaborative approach delivers comprehensive assessment and planning, drawing on multiple professional perspectives to provide the best possible service. You will take responsibility for your ongoing professional development and stay current with relevant theory, research, and legislation. You will participate actively in training and knowledge exchange opportunities. You will demonstrate appropriate initiative and leadership for your role and contribute to a high-support, high-challenge culture within the Records & Archives Team and the wider Information Governance Unit.
This post is regulated work with children and/or protected adults under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. The preferred candidate will be required to join the PVG Scheme or undergo a PVG Scheme update check. Where an individual has spent a continuous period of 3 months or more out with the UK in the last 5 years, an Overseas Criminal Record Check will be required. You will be required to provide this check. An unconditional offer of employment and commencement in the post will be subject to the outcome of both these pre-employment checks being deemed satisfactory.
We're committed to creating a workplace culture where all our people feel valued, included and able to be their best at work, and we recognise the benefits that a diverse workforce with different values, beliefs, experience, and backgrounds brings to us as an organisation.
As part of our goal to improve our organisational culture and create a great place to work together for the people of Edinburgh, we want to make sure that we're bringing the best people into our roles, not just in their skills and experience but also in their approach to work.
To help achieve this, we're changing the way we interview and assess candidates by moving from a competency-based interview approach to a behavioural and technical (skills for the job) based approach. This new way of interviewing will allow us to assess how you think and how you would bring Our Behaviours of Respect, Integrity and Flexibility into your ways of working.
You can find out more on Our Behaviours web page Our Behaviours – The City of Edinburgh Council
Our salary range typically reflects the initial starting salary and annually increases until it reaches the top of the range.
Happy to talk flexible working.
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View Senior Practitioner job description
Responsibilities
Experience:
* Considerable post qualifying experience in a Children & Families or equivalent team. This should include experience in the majority of the following:
o Complex Child Protection investigations
o Post investigative Child Protection work with children, young people and their families
o Working with Looked After Children
o Preparing assessments of need and risk for the Children's Hearing System
o Use of accredited risk assessments following appropriate training.
* Ability to develop plans that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based (SMART) with the care experienced which improve outcomes.
* Extensive experience of working in close collaboration with multi-agency partners.
* Ability to initiate and develop new ideas and approaches to meet the needs of the care experienced.
* Experience of contributing to the learning of others
* Experience of supporting care experienced individuals to understand their time in care – e.g. through life story work or supporting them in the Throughcare & Aftercare or Corporate Parenting service settings.
* Experience of chairing meetings. (Desirable)
* Some experience of leading or delivering training packages. (Desirable)
* Experience of mentoring staff and or supervising students. (Desirable)
* Experience of case formulation and risk scenario planning. (Desirable)
* Experience of presenting information at case conferences and risk management meetings. (Desirable)
* Experience of working within Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). (Desirable)
* Experience of Adult Protection. (Desirable)
* Experience of delivering evidence-based interventions to address long-term trauma. (Desirable)
Knowledge, skills and understanding:
* Well-developed assessment and communication skills (written and verbal).
* Interest in and ability to disseminate relevant research material to colleagues; other professionals; and the care experienced.
* Knowledge of relevant and current social work legislation, theory, policy and procedures pertaining to child development.
* I.T skills – competent in the use of Microsoft office and experience of using electronic databases.
* A particular expertise in a relevant specialist area. (Desirable)
* Knowledge and understanding of the Whole System Approach to youth justice in Scotland, and its application. (Desirable)
* Knowledge and understanding of the Getting It Right For Every Child approach and its application. (Desirable)
* Knowledge and understanding of key Scottish public policy priorities. (Desirable)
* Knowledge of historic social work legislation and practices. (Desirable)
* Knowledge of social work complaints processes. (Desirable)
* Driving License. (Desirable)
Qualifications and training:
* Recognised social work qualification and registration with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).
* Post-qualifying award in Child Care/Child Protection. (Desirable)
* Completed training in Joint Police/Social Work Child Protection investigative interviewing. (Desirable)
* Practice Teaching Award. (Desirable)
* Accreditation in risk assessment tools (Desirable)
* Accredited Safe and Together Practitioner. (Desirable)
* Trauma Skilled or Trauma Enhanced trained (Desirable)
Job specific requirements:
* An understanding of the issues around managing change in self, others or organisations and a willingness to assist the management team in driving change.
* An understanding of the issues and best practices in providing access to social work client files to care experienced individuals.
* An ability to reflect on practice – self, others and the organisation.
* The ability to work in partnership with the care experienced, their families / support networks and other professionals in a restorative manner.
* The ability to work as a member of a team and to support the development of less experienced staff
* The willingness and ability to challenge poor practice when encountered
* Ability to deal effectively with conflict.
* Ability to manage time and meet deadlines.
* A commitment to learning and continuous professional development.