Early Help Family Practitioner - 12 month FTC

Early Help Family Practitioner - 12 month FTC

Posted 1 day ago by Guardian Jobs

Negotiable
Undetermined
Undetermined
London, England, United Kingdom

Summary: The Early Help Practitioner role involves working directly with families to identify challenges and provide coordinated support, helping them build confidence and skills. The position requires a whole-family approach, fostering strong relationships and collaboration with various professionals. The role is part of a broader initiative to enhance social care and early help services within the community. Candidates should have relevant experience and qualifications in family support or social care, with a focus on early intervention.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Hold a caseload of families facing various challenges, including parenting, school attendance, housing, and mental health issues.
  • Coordinate support from different professionals and lead in creating comprehensive support plans.
  • Build trusting relationships with parents, carers, children, and young people through home and community engagement.
  • Utilize judgment and creativity to identify family needs and facilitate positive steps forward.
  • Contribute to the Social Care Reform by strengthening links between Social Work and Early Help.

Key Skills:

  • Experience working with children and families with complex needs.
  • Recognized qualification in family support, early years, youth work, or social care.
  • Ability to manage challenging situations with calmness and empathy.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills for assessments and support plans.
  • Understanding of safeguarding, child protection, and evidence-based assessment tools.

Salary (Rate): undetermined

City: London

Country: United Kingdom

Working Arrangements: undetermined

IR35 Status: undetermined

Seniority Level: undetermined

Industry: Other

Detailed Description From Employer:

Be the support that helps families find their strength and move forward. Be the support that helps families find their strength and move forward. As an Early Help Practitioner, you'll work directly with families to understand what's getting in the way and help them build the confidence, skills and support networks to move forward - offering early, coordinated support that makes a lasting difference.

Working Style You'll be based in the Borough for 4 days a week, playing a key role in serving the local community. Whether you're working on the frontline or behind the scenes, you'll be part of a dedicated team making a real difference to residents' lives.

What You'll Be Doing You'll hold a caseload of families with a mix of challenges - from parenting struggles and school attendance issues to housing concerns and mental health needs. You'll take a whole-family approach, coordinating support from different professionals and often taking the lead in shaping a clear, joined-up plan. You'll build strong, trusting relationships with parents, carers, children and young people, spending time in homes and community settings to get a full picture of what's going on. You'll use your judgement and creativity to identify what each family needs and support them to take positive steps forward. This role is part of our wider Social Care Reform, which is strengthening links between Social Work and Early Help, and creating more opportunities for collaborative working.

For further details, please review the Job Description and Person Specification What You'll Bring You'll have experience working with children and families with complex needs, and a recognised qualification in a relevant field - such as family support, early years, youth work or social care. We're looking for someone who's calm under pressure, curious about what drives behaviour, and motivated by seeing people make progress. You'll be confident managing tricky situations and have the empathy and perseverance to keep families engaged. You'll also bring strong communication skills - both written and verbal - and be comfortable writing clear, strengths-based assessments and support plans. You'll understand thresholds, safeguarding and child protection, and have experience using evidence-based tools to assess need, identify risk and track progress. This is a role for someone who values early intervention, knows the difference it makes, and is ready to get stuck in and make it happen.

Why join us At RBKC, we're all in - investing in our people, our communities and our future. You'll be joining an outstanding-rated Children's Services team that's committed to high standards, shared learning and strong supervision. You'll have access to regular training and development opportunities, a supportive peer network, and the chance to help shape how Early Help and Social Work work together more closely. We offer a competitive salary, generous annual leave and a good pension scheme - but more than that, we offer a chance to make a real and lasting difference in people's lives.

About Us Kensington and Chelsea is home to diverse communities, thriving businesses and unique local places. Everything we do is focused on supporting our residents, strengthening our approach and creating a fairer borough. As a competent and caring Council, we take pride in our work every day, ensuring our services are delivered with care and competence. We listen to our residents, act with integrity and work together to build a borough that is greener, safer and fairer for all. In this role, you'll be part of that effort - helping families overcome difficulties before they escalate and making sure children and young people have the best possible start. Whether you're leading multi-agency plans or offering a listening ear, your work will help build stronger families and a stronger community.

Interview Details & Role Requirements This role requires an Enhanced DBS with Adults & Childrens Barred List Interviews to be held 10th & 11th September 2025 Ready to join us? We're all in - are you? If you share our values and have the skills to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. Please apply online explaining how you meet the requirements set out in the person specification and job description. We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants. We are committed to promoting equality and respecting diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community. We are a Disability Confident Employer - committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible.