Family Support Service
Right child, right support, right time, every time
We work together to support families and communities to give every child the best chance of a happy and rewarding life, especially those who need more help.
We have ambitious improvement and transformation plans to create the optimum conditions within which our staff can make a real difference and improve outcomes for children.
We aim for the same Family Help Social Worker to support children and their families from the front door until permanence is achieved either through positive change and the child remaining with their parent/s or legal permanence being secured either within the family or outside of the family.
We are a local authority adopting, and training all colleagues in, systemic social work practice. If you would like to join an authority that takes a relational approach to working with families and focuses on what needs to change in the system around a child and family to enable children to thrive, then consider a role with GCC.
Our team structures are designed to ensure there is the right level of support available to staff and that caseloads are kept at a manageable level with a Family Help Team Manager, two Family Help Team Leaders and 12 Family Help Social Workers and Family Help Leads making up each team’s full complement of staff. Each team is linked to a local Children’s Centre offering meaningful, cohesive services which reach into our community.
We believe families receive the best support when we work as a system. We have invested in a range of specialist services - all delivered in our localities - as we aim to get rid of internal referral forms and work collaboratively together to respond to need. The teams are supported with access to our innovative Intensive Intervention Teams, Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams, Harm outside the Home Hubs, and Early Intervention and Community Teams. This includes parenting practitioners, family group conference practitioners, intensive edge of care family support workers, adolescent support workers, adult employment practitioners, mental health providers, IDVAs and more.
We need resilient, driven individuals who will play their part in making our vision for Children’s Services a success. You will be joining an authority with a strong set of values that underpin the work we do: Accountability, Empowerment, Excellence, Integrity and Respect
