Adolescent Practitioners

Job Title: Adolescent Practitioners
Starting Salary: £33,366 progressing to £36,124 per annum
Hours: 37.0
Location: Stevenage (with travel across East Herts, Broxbourne and Welwyn Hatfield) - Hybrid working
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Childrens Services

The opportunities

We are seeking 2 Adolescent Practitioners to join Hertfordshire's East Herts, Broxbourne, Welwyn and Hatfield, Specialist Adolescent and Youth Justice Service. The Youth Justice Service is integrated with the Specialist Adolescent Service Hertfordshire (SASH).

• Adolescent Practitioner - Youth Justice
• Adolescent Practitioner - Social Care

The two roles will vary in responsibilities, as we are looking for one Adolescent Practitioner who will be Youth Justice focused, who will be working with children aged 11-18, who have received either a diversionary resolution (pre-Court) or Court Order.

As a Youth Justice Focused Adolescent Practitioner you will have the opportunity to work with a skilled, motivated, and dedicated workforce, who are passionate about supporting children to desist from offending through robust assessment and delivery of tailored interventions which achieve positive change for children and keep them and wider communities safe.

The Second post is for a Social Care Focused Adolescent Practitioner whose primary responsibility will be to work with children aged 11 - 18. You will be part of a highly supportive and motivated, multi-disciplinary team that provides support to children and their families to prevent escalation into specialist services.

Both posts provide an excellent opportunity to further develop your skills and knowledge with working with children who are transitioning through their adolescent stage of development. This is a great opportunity to truly influence the lives of older children.

More about the roles

Post 1 - Youth Justice focused Adolescent Practitioner

The purpose of this post it to work in partnership with Specialist Adolescent Service Hertfordshire staff and other statutory and voluntary agencies, to provide robust programmes for children subject to court orders requiring skilled case management, to meet National Standards to reduce and manage risk to the public and prevent further offending.

• To manage a caseload of children open to Youth Justice on an Out of Court (diversion) or community-based Court Order.

• Through appropriate assessment of risk and risk management to develop, provide, co-ordinate and monitor programmes of intervention for children subject to court Orders in order to prevent further offending in accordance with evidence-based practice.

• To contribute to the delivery of the full range of services for children, their families and victims within Youth Justice Services.

• Work in partnership with other professionals and with the parents/carers and families of children to ensure consistency with programme arrangements and to maximise the benefits of individual programmes for children.

• To maintain accurate and timely comprehensive case management information on ChildView and comply with deadlines and statutory standards and requirements.

• Provide high quality reports e.g. Referral Order reports based on an AssetPlus assessment.

you will liaise with relevant statutory and voluntary agencies to exchange, provide, gather, collate and evaluate information and data as may be required for monitoring the compliance of children, maintaining the positive benefits of individual intervention programmes.

Post 2 - Social Care Focused Adolescent Practitioner

You will work directly with children and their families requiring support, help or protection, to navigating challenging and difficult situations that may be occurring in their lives. You will be responsible for organising and coordinating the Team Around the Family using the Common Assessment Framework. You may also be required to work alongside Social Workers to complete pieces of work with children or families who are being supported under the legal frameworks of Child In Need, Child Looked After and Child Protection.

As a Social Care Focused Adolescent Practitioner you will provide support and help to:-

• Children aged 16 - 17 years old who are at risk of or have experienced homelessness.
• Children aged 11 - 17 at risk of significant harm due to extra familial harm including but not limited to exploitation, serious youth violence, modern slavery, and trafficking.
• Children aged 11 - 17 at risk of being accommodated by the Local Authority due extra - familial concerns.
• Children aged 11 - 17 who require additional support following an admission to a Tier 4 Adolescent Mental Health facility.

Multi agency working is essential to enhancing support and improving outcomes for the children and families that we work with consequently you will work closely with other professionals to ensure that children and families that we work with receive the right response and an effective service. You will be expected to undertake comprehensive assessments, implement and coordinate action plans, and will have a number of children and families assigned to you, who you will complete direct interventions with.

Both posts will require the successful candidate to build relationships with children, and their families based on their individual needs, responding to their heritage, neuro diversity, learning style and self-identity enabling them to achieve positive change and be safe.

About you

Essential criteria for both roles:

• An understanding of the child first / child focused approach and have the ability to build positive relationships with children and parent/carers.
• Ability to meaningfully engage and communicate effectively with children as well as a range of individuals including parent/carers, victims, wider professionals and external agencies.
• Self-motivated and able to organise and effectively manage own workload.
• Experience of dealing with conflict and problem solving.
• Experience of contributing to multi-agency meetings.
• Strong IT skills to maintain confidential and accurate records on both case management systems and Excel spreadsheets.
• Good IT, organisation and communication skills are essential as you will need to record information on a case management information system, coproduce intervention plans, produce reports, and correspond with children, parent/carers and partners.
• You will be required to travel, so a driving licence and access to a vehicle is essential.

In addition, these criteria are essential to each role;

Social Care focused

• Experience and a sound knowledge of relevant legislation and policies relating to children and their families within a social care setting.

Youth Justice focused

• Experience and a sound knowledge of relevant legislation and policies relating to children and their families within the youth justice service.

This is an incredible opportunity to make a real difference in children's lives at a critical time. As an Adolescent Practitioner, you will be on the front line, helping children navigate challenges, make safer choices, and find a path towards a brighter future. Your work will directly impact not only the children you support, but also their families and the wider community. If you are passionate about shaping young lives and have the drive to inspire change, this is a role where you can truly make a positive impact and leave a lasting legacy.

This job role is within the Health and Social Care Services, level HSC9 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Health and social care

To hear more about this opportunity please contact:

Youth Justice focused Adolescent Practitioner:- Natasha Burns - 01992 555095

Social Care focused Adolescent Practitioner:- Alisha Gumbs - 01992 555095

Interview Date: w/c 13th January 2025 tbc

Benefits of working for us



How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Driving required
You'll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.