Children's Support Worker Milton Keynes, England
Job description
Do you want to make a difference in the lives of children and young people who have grown up with extreme difficulties and challenges through no fault of their own?
Do you have an engaging personality that can connect with young people which can help to bring a little bit of joy to their lives?
Are you empathetic, nurturing, caring, responsible and reliable in your day to day life?
Do you have experience in working with vulnerable and/or challenging children and young people?
If the answer to all four of the questions above is "yes", then we would love to hear from you.
Paragon Social Care are currently recruiting experienced children's support workers who share our company ethos of Excellence Through Understanding.
Who are Paragon Social Care?
Paragon Social Care is a support agency, specialising in top level support, for some the most challenging and vulnerable children and young people in society. We work closely with several local authorities to assist them in supporting their children and young people when there is often no other option available. We are always happy to support the more challenging young people as we believe that every child matters and every child should be treated equally no matter their past.
Our staff are highly trained to be able to deal effectively with any situation that may arise at the workplace.
Our support can take place in the following settings:
- In Hospital. Staffing ratio of 1:1 or 2:1.
- In Accommodation provided by the council. Staffing ratio of 2:1 up to 6:1.
- In the Family Home. Staffing ratio of 1:1 or 2:1
- In council run Residential Children's Homes.
What does the role entail?
Working closely with challenging and/or vulnerable young people is not easy! It takes a certain type of person with the right skill set, personality and mindset to be able to engage with these young people and gain their trust.
Our main responsibility is to keep the young person safe. Safe from outsiders but also safe from themselves. Many of our young people will have a history of CSE (Child Sexual Exploitation) or self harm.
Our support that takes place in accommodation provided by the council is generally short term emergency support whilst the young person is between longer term placements. These support packages can last from a day to a few weeks.
Duties would include:
- Formulating and sticking to a structured daily routine for the young person.
- Engaging and offering emotional support.
- Taking the young person on activities and outings.
- Taking the young person to meetings, court, school, doctors appointments etc
- Assisting with medication.
- Cooking for/with the young person and ensuring they are eating healthily.
- Meeting with the social worker.
- Ensuring the DoLS Order is enforced if there is one in place.
- Ensuring the young person takes care of their personal hygiene.
- Restraining when necessary and only as a last resort.
The last point is very important. Unfortunately we do sometimes need to restrain the young people we support if their behaviours escalate to a point where they are a danger to themselves or others. Restraint training forms part of our induction/registration process, but we do require staff who will be willing and confident to restrain when necessary.
Please apply to this vacancy if you meet the following criteria:
- You are experienced in supporting children and young people with challenging behaviours.
- You have a clear DBS, NO CONVICTIONS!
- You have an engaging and friendly personality.
- You are a car driver, have access to a vehicle for work and are reliable.
- You are flexible in your working life and can commit to a minimum of 3 bookings a week.
- You are happy to travel up to 30 miles as the work is not a set location and can vary from placement to placement.
In return we will offer:
- An opportunity to really make a real difference in the lives of the children and young people we support.
- Great rates of pay which increases after successfully completing your probation period.
- Extensive Free Training, including restraint training plus up to 20 extra modules based around working with challenging young people.
- The opportunity to further your career progression with Pathway 2 training once you have passed probation.
- Working with an excellent team of support workers.
- Company Pension. (If PAYE)
- Referral Bonuses.
- Flexibility to choose the shifts that work with your schedule.
Please ensure that when you apply your CV is up to date.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Job Type: Zero hours contract
Salary: £18.00-£28.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Flexitime
Schedule:
- 12 hour shift
- Day shift
- Every weekend
- Flexitime
- Monday to Friday
- Night shift
- Overtime
- Weekend availability
Application question(s):
- How many years experience do you have with working with children or young people?
- How far are you willing to travel?
Experience:
- Support Work: 1 year (required)
Licence/Certification:
- Driving Licence and access to a vehicle (required)
Work Location: In person
Reference ID: Children's Support Worker
