Childcare Worker
Main purpose of the job
To provide day to day care of children and young people within a family based environment that promotes positive attachments and relationships. Work within the wider framework of professionals and families in order to understand a child's life experience and respond and act in ways that promote a child's opportunities and potential. To work directly with children providing the best quality of personalised care that meets their needs. Through the process of building meaningful relationships be part of a team that provides warmth, nurture and care for very vulnerable young people. Contribute to developing and maintaining a stimulating, nurturing home where children feel happy, cared for and safe. To achieve the highest standard of service delivery as measured by Ofsted against the Children's Homes Regulations and Quality Standards.
The young people we look after have experienced significant trauma which requires high levels of compassion, empathy, resilience and understanding. Due to this trauma, they can present with challenging behaviour, including self harm, physical outbursts towards staff and each other and a variety of other risk-taking behaviour. We have a responsibility to make them feel safe and cared for. All staff are integral to the running of the home and contribute to team meetings, shift debriefs, supervision and appraisal, whilst also, with support, leading shifts.
Children and Young People
1. Identify safeguarding issues and facilitate relevant referrals to safeguarding in accordance with the safeguarding policy.
2. Engage with young people in a positive and proactive way in order to establish respectful, trusting relationships that lay the foundation for them to discuss, with confidence, any issue they have relating to their safety or welfare.
3. To give children the opportunity to express their views and encourage participation in decisions that affect their lives, taking their wishes and feelings into account.
4. Act as key worker for identified young people, supporting any assessments undertaken and contributing to the care plan, reviews and the development of individual programmes, ensuring all elements of that role are fulfilled to the highest standard.
5. To provide for young people's physical needs by offering, cooking and preparing healthy meals, washing and ironing clothes and bed linen, ensuring they have everything they need to attend school and outside activities, and undertaking shopping tasks and general household duties to keep the home clean and tidy; to also encourage and help young people to participate in and learn how to undertake these tasks themselves as they prepare for independent living.
6. To support young people to develop resilience and build mental, physical, emotional and social wellbeing, enabling children to develop from needing external control to developing self-control.
7. Administer medication in accordance with the standards set by the regulatory body and the policies and procedures of the home.
8. To encourage positive behaviour and provide clear, fair, reparative consequences for inappropriate behaviour.
9. Ensure all children's financial transactions are recorded and administered in accordance with their individual care plan.
10. Work positively and effectively with relatives, advocates and others relevant to children whilst also promoting and protecting their privacy and safety.
11. Communicate effectively with education staff to ensure a consistent approach and to provide a daily link between home and school. Support children in the classroom if appropriate.
12. Liaise with other professionals to provide a consistent approach to all aspects of children's care.
13. To organise and accompany young people to take part in outside activities such as trips to the cinema, museums, holidays and driving the home vehicle to facilitate this.
14. To ensure each young person's care plan is followed on a daily basis.
15. Understand the needs of the children in the home and use this understanding to inform interactions with the children, their families and other professionals.
16. Contribute to the development of individual placement plans in conjunction with colleagues and other professionals.
17. Support children to make measurable progress towards meeting their education and life skills potential.
18. Use appropriate systems to measure how children make progress and benefit from positive experiences and record the actions taken to address any negatives.
19. To be aware of risk assessments and ensure they are followed on a daily basis, with a view to updating them as and when required.
20. To act as a positive role model through for example, punctuality, dress and demonstrating how to deal with problems and emotions.
21. To be ambitious for young people in their educational and extracurricular activities and provide support to them in achieving their goals.
22. To ensure young people take part in relevant educational activities on a daily basis.
23. To ensure the young people's individual environment is clean, tidy and maintained daily in a nurturing way.
24. To facilitate and support family or other contacts important to the young person.
Team Membership
1. Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, to ensure that key messages are conveyed. The role has a requirement for regular report writing, daily logs and other written work, together with multi-agency networking.
2. To attend team meetings and make a positive contribution to them.
3. To be willing to actively contribute to the development of the team, giving and receiving constructive, appropriate feedback in team meetings, shift debriefs, appraisal and supervision.
4. To be proactive and use own initiative in the role when required.
5. Work effectively as part of a team and also willing to undertake lone working where required.
6. Participate in training including that which takes place when not "on shift".
7. Shift lead where appropriate, with support.
8. To attend supervision as agreed and partake in the appraisal process in accordance with Achieving for Children's policy.
9. Take responsibility for own learning and development. A commitment to continuous self-improvement and reflective practice
10. To ensure young people's records are kept up to date and are accurate, completed in a timely fashion and at a competent level of English.
11. Consistently support the non-institutional, nurturing ethos and culture of the home.
12. Is aware of attachment and trauma and how this impacts on child development.
General
1. Able to demonstrate emotional literacy in relationship to self and others.
2. Operate at all times in accordance with organisation policies and procedures, with particular reference to Safeguarding, Whistleblowing, Complaints and Representations and Behaviour Support policies and within the Code of Conduct.
3. Maintain awareness of own professional limitations and identify gaps. Use supervision as an opportunity to identify learning and development needs.
4. To be aware of organisation Health and Safety policy at all times and exercise vigilance in respect of Health and Safety by promptly reporting all hazards and/or remedying them where appropriate. Ensure regular health and safety checks of the home and equipment are completed and recorded.
5. Ensure the garden is maintained to a high standard and that all outside areas are tidy and free of hazards. Encourage the children to get involved with gardening, for example, through growing vegetables.
6. Knowledge of current legislation and support the home in attaining its legislative requirements (Children's Homes Regulations 2015, Ofsted, etc.).
7. Recognises the impact that own values and attitudes can have on relationships.
8. Works to ensure all aspects of the home's "statement of purpose" are met.
9. Able to prioritise own work within context of conflicting priorities.
10. Ability to guide less experienced staff.
11. Uphold and promote organisation equality and diversity policy in all aspects of the work and ensure that the policy is understood and implemented by all staff with whom you work, and that the spirit as well as the letter of the policy is fulfilled and seek advice on how to challenge.
12. Undertake appropriate training when "off shift" when the need requires.
13. The Children's Home Regulatory standards 2015 require all residential staff to be qualified.
14. Take responsibility for a regulatory standard and to champion this throughout the home.
15. To be aware of and adhere to all financial procedures.
16. Commitment to the provision of high standards of care at all times.
17. Willingness to work with a wide range of presenting needs of children and to develop and maintain effective care practice to ensure that the children are cared for in a safe, nurturing environment.
18. Write reports accurately and to a competent standard of English, ensuring that all care paperwork is completed to the required standard in a timely fashion.
19. Demonstrates diligence, reliability and integrity.
20. Competent in a range of IT packages.
21. Willingness to go on holiday and/or short breaks with the children and other staff for a period of time not longer than 7 days.
22. Undertake 24 hour shifts to include sleep-in duties as part of a rota system and be flexible in order to cover sickness and holidays, working weekends and bank holidays including Christmas.
23..... click apply for full job details
To provide day to day care of children and young people within a family based environment that promotes positive attachments and relationships. Work within the wider framework of professionals and families in order to understand a child's life experience and respond and act in ways that promote a child's opportunities and potential. To work directly with children providing the best quality of personalised care that meets their needs. Through the process of building meaningful relationships be part of a team that provides warmth, nurture and care for very vulnerable young people. Contribute to developing and maintaining a stimulating, nurturing home where children feel happy, cared for and safe. To achieve the highest standard of service delivery as measured by Ofsted against the Children's Homes Regulations and Quality Standards.
The young people we look after have experienced significant trauma which requires high levels of compassion, empathy, resilience and understanding. Due to this trauma, they can present with challenging behaviour, including self harm, physical outbursts towards staff and each other and a variety of other risk-taking behaviour. We have a responsibility to make them feel safe and cared for. All staff are integral to the running of the home and contribute to team meetings, shift debriefs, supervision and appraisal, whilst also, with support, leading shifts.
Children and Young People
1. Identify safeguarding issues and facilitate relevant referrals to safeguarding in accordance with the safeguarding policy.
2. Engage with young people in a positive and proactive way in order to establish respectful, trusting relationships that lay the foundation for them to discuss, with confidence, any issue they have relating to their safety or welfare.
3. To give children the opportunity to express their views and encourage participation in decisions that affect their lives, taking their wishes and feelings into account.
4. Act as key worker for identified young people, supporting any assessments undertaken and contributing to the care plan, reviews and the development of individual programmes, ensuring all elements of that role are fulfilled to the highest standard.
5. To provide for young people's physical needs by offering, cooking and preparing healthy meals, washing and ironing clothes and bed linen, ensuring they have everything they need to attend school and outside activities, and undertaking shopping tasks and general household duties to keep the home clean and tidy; to also encourage and help young people to participate in and learn how to undertake these tasks themselves as they prepare for independent living.
6. To support young people to develop resilience and build mental, physical, emotional and social wellbeing, enabling children to develop from needing external control to developing self-control.
7. Administer medication in accordance with the standards set by the regulatory body and the policies and procedures of the home.
8. To encourage positive behaviour and provide clear, fair, reparative consequences for inappropriate behaviour.
9. Ensure all children's financial transactions are recorded and administered in accordance with their individual care plan.
10. Work positively and effectively with relatives, advocates and others relevant to children whilst also promoting and protecting their privacy and safety.
11. Communicate effectively with education staff to ensure a consistent approach and to provide a daily link between home and school. Support children in the classroom if appropriate.
12. Liaise with other professionals to provide a consistent approach to all aspects of children's care.
13. To organise and accompany young people to take part in outside activities such as trips to the cinema, museums, holidays and driving the home vehicle to facilitate this.
14. To ensure each young person's care plan is followed on a daily basis.
15. Understand the needs of the children in the home and use this understanding to inform interactions with the children, their families and other professionals.
16. Contribute to the development of individual placement plans in conjunction with colleagues and other professionals.
17. Support children to make measurable progress towards meeting their education and life skills potential.
18. Use appropriate systems to measure how children make progress and benefit from positive experiences and record the actions taken to address any negatives.
19. To be aware of risk assessments and ensure they are followed on a daily basis, with a view to updating them as and when required.
20. To act as a positive role model through for example, punctuality, dress and demonstrating how to deal with problems and emotions.
21. To be ambitious for young people in their educational and extracurricular activities and provide support to them in achieving their goals.
22. To ensure young people take part in relevant educational activities on a daily basis.
23. To ensure the young people's individual environment is clean, tidy and maintained daily in a nurturing way.
24. To facilitate and support family or other contacts important to the young person.
Team Membership
1. Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, to ensure that key messages are conveyed. The role has a requirement for regular report writing, daily logs and other written work, together with multi-agency networking.
2. To attend team meetings and make a positive contribution to them.
3. To be willing to actively contribute to the development of the team, giving and receiving constructive, appropriate feedback in team meetings, shift debriefs, appraisal and supervision.
4. To be proactive and use own initiative in the role when required.
5. Work effectively as part of a team and also willing to undertake lone working where required.
6. Participate in training including that which takes place when not "on shift".
7. Shift lead where appropriate, with support.
8. To attend supervision as agreed and partake in the appraisal process in accordance with Achieving for Children's policy.
9. Take responsibility for own learning and development. A commitment to continuous self-improvement and reflective practice
10. To ensure young people's records are kept up to date and are accurate, completed in a timely fashion and at a competent level of English.
11. Consistently support the non-institutional, nurturing ethos and culture of the home.
12. Is aware of attachment and trauma and how this impacts on child development.
General
1. Able to demonstrate emotional literacy in relationship to self and others.
2. Operate at all times in accordance with organisation policies and procedures, with particular reference to Safeguarding, Whistleblowing, Complaints and Representations and Behaviour Support policies and within the Code of Conduct.
3. Maintain awareness of own professional limitations and identify gaps. Use supervision as an opportunity to identify learning and development needs.
4. To be aware of organisation Health and Safety policy at all times and exercise vigilance in respect of Health and Safety by promptly reporting all hazards and/or remedying them where appropriate. Ensure regular health and safety checks of the home and equipment are completed and recorded.
5. Ensure the garden is maintained to a high standard and that all outside areas are tidy and free of hazards. Encourage the children to get involved with gardening, for example, through growing vegetables.
6. Knowledge of current legislation and support the home in attaining its legislative requirements (Children's Homes Regulations 2015, Ofsted, etc.).
7. Recognises the impact that own values and attitudes can have on relationships.
8. Works to ensure all aspects of the home's "statement of purpose" are met.
9. Able to prioritise own work within context of conflicting priorities.
10. Ability to guide less experienced staff.
11. Uphold and promote organisation equality and diversity policy in all aspects of the work and ensure that the policy is understood and implemented by all staff with whom you work, and that the spirit as well as the letter of the policy is fulfilled and seek advice on how to challenge.
12. Undertake appropriate training when "off shift" when the need requires.
13. The Children's Home Regulatory standards 2015 require all residential staff to be qualified.
14. Take responsibility for a regulatory standard and to champion this throughout the home.
15. To be aware of and adhere to all financial procedures.
16. Commitment to the provision of high standards of care at all times.
17. Willingness to work with a wide range of presenting needs of children and to develop and maintain effective care practice to ensure that the children are cared for in a safe, nurturing environment.
18. Write reports accurately and to a competent standard of English, ensuring that all care paperwork is completed to the required standard in a timely fashion.
19. Demonstrates diligence, reliability and integrity.
20. Competent in a range of IT packages.
21. Willingness to go on holiday and/or short breaks with the children and other staff for a period of time not longer than 7 days.
22. Undertake 24 hour shifts to include sleep-in duties as part of a rota system and be flexible in order to cover sickness and holidays, working weekends and bank holidays including Christmas.
23..... click apply for full job details