Specialist Caseworker - Families

What we do:

Safer London provides consistent, trauma-informed support to children and young people who’ve already experienced harm - helping them move from crisis to stability, and from harm to hope. 

We support young Londoners affected by a range of harms, including criminal exploitation, sexual exploitation and sexual violence, violence in the community and peer-to-peer harm. Our work happens in the community - wherever the young Londoner feels safe and comfortable. This could be a school, park, café, or another safe place.

Each child or young person is matched with a caseworker based on their unique needs and circumstances. They meet with them weekly and support typically lasts between 6 months and 18 months, but support can last for as long as needed.

Each intervention is tailored to the young Londoner's identity, experiences and needs, and may focus on safety planning, emotional wellbeing, healthy peer relationships and family dynamics. We also help young Londoners access education, training, employment opportunities, and safe, stable housing.

The team includes:

• Specialist workers for girls and young women

• SEND and complex harm specialists

• A dedicated families team who works one to one with parents and carers

Through our work, we are helping young Londoners heal, rebuild and move forward - so they can live safer lives and have the positive futures they deserve.

About the Role:

In this impactful role, you will cultivate strong trusting relationships with parents and carers, offering personalised support on a one-to-one basis. Your responsibilities will encompass a diverse range of direct support and advocacy, with a focus on safeguarding and the wellbeing of parents and carers whose child/ren are affected by violence and exploitation.

Who you will be working with:

At Safer London we work as one team across the entire organisation. This cohesive working allows us to realise our vision of helping to create a safer city for everyone who lives here.

We choose to invest heavily in our direct practice work, with practitioner Caseworkers making up the majority of Safer London’s workforce. Safer London’s Caseworkers are supported by a team of practice managers and safeguarding professionals.

We have Caseworkers who are Specialists and Experts in the following areas:

• Violence and exploitation
• Sexual violence
• Neurodiversity and SEND
• Harmful Sexual Behaviours
• Families (parents and carers)
• Education, training and employment

At Safer London we encourage a culture of shared learning and collaborative working. We work together to support the presenting needs of the young Londoners and families we work with. Our work is grounded in the AMBIT approach of working, with the team working to the AMBIT principle of mentalization.

Collaborative working with multiple different external organisations and agencies is critical in this role. In order to effectively safeguard and address the complex challenges faced by young Londoners, you will be required to work alongside a variety of professionals, each with their unique expertise. By fostering effective communication and information sharing multi-agency working allows for:

• Enhancies overall effectiveness of safeguarding young Londoners and families.
• Intervention and prevention of potential risks.
• Provides a holistic understanding of a young Londoner’s situation.
• Creates a coordinated effort, preventing duplication of work and ensures resources are used efficiently.

If the practice team is the beating heart of Safer London, then the central resources team are the brain. Encompassing finance, HR, data, governance, fundraising, communications, learning and development and data management, these individuals work hard to make sure Safer London is operating to the highest standard possible.

Main purpose of the role:

In this role, you will work alongside parents or carers whose children have been exposed to or are at risk of exploitation or violence.

Within your role as a Specialist Family Caseworker, you will provide support to parents and carers to help them gain a greater understanding of the challenges young Londoners and their families often face and work alongside them to secure

the safety and positive outcomes they want for their children and family. You will be expected to provide robust risk and needs assessments that reflect the contexts within which harm has occurred, and to work collaboratively with partnership agencies to reduce risk and secure services and support.

The context that many children and their families are living within can be challenging and a key part of your role is to support families to manage their own emotional wellbeing in what can be difficult circumstances. Alongside this, you should be able to demonstrate how you manage your own wellbeing to enable us to offer the very best services to parents and carers.