Children's rights officer- Children in Care and Care Leaver Advocate WCC623785

As a Children's rights officer- Children in Care and Care Leaver Advocate, you can make your own powerful contribution to children and young people across Westminster. Advocacy can help children, young people and adults understand their rights, make informed decisions and have their voice heard on matters that are important to them. Your day-to-day will be varied and dynamic, and will include visiting, engaging with, and completing tailored direct work with care experienced children, young people and adults up to the age of 25. Acting as an advocate for their views, wishes and feelings, you'll speak on their behalf or help them present their views to the service.

A source of support, guidance and understanding, you'll help empower self-advocacy, ensuring the children, young people and adults you support understand agreed outcomes, available options and complaints procedures. Where necessary, you'll challenge issues on behalf of the young person, ensuring their views are fully represented and given due consideration at relevant forums. Liaising with colleagues, internal and external agencies and senior management, you'll provide up-to-date, effective reporting on children and young people in your caseload.

An established professional with a recognised qualification which evidences direct involvement with children and young people, or similar, you'll have experience completing direct work with care experienced children of different ages, needs and cultural backgrounds. This might include unaccompanied young people seeking asylum, children with disabilities or children in residential settings. Knowledge of care experienced children's rights, and the legislation that informs this is crucial to this role. As well as experience of using this knowledge alongside varied advocacy values, and approaches to support children and young people.

Bringing strong verbal and written communication skills to the role, you'll confidently vary your communication style to convey and advocate for the voices and needs of children and young people. In a previous role, you'll have compiled written reports, managed a caseload, and provided advocacy and 'non-instructed' advocacy for children and young people, to help them understand their rights and make informed decisions. Your knowledge of safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures - including of the legal and policy frameworks for vulnerable children, young adults and adults - will be demonstrable and up to date.

More than anything, you'll be an empathetic source of support for children and young people. Centering their voices, and taking a sensitive approach to everything you do, you'll provide a safe space for young people to express their views, feel listened to and work with them and key professionals towards an agreed outcome. This is a fantastic opportunity to help improve outcomes for care experienced young people, join a tight-knit, industry leading team, and to grow your career in a varied, rewarding role.

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF EMPOWERED FAMILIES

Children's Services at Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories where compassionate people bring everything to their work, including their own experiences of parenting.

Take Melissa, a Senior Social Worker in our Assessment Team. She's one of the first people families meet when accessing our services, so building rapport is critical. And that's where Melissa's life experience really counts. She had her first child as a young adult and knows just how judgemental others can be.

Melissa has something unique to offer and it can't be found in a textbook: her own experience of raising two children as a single parent. She's committed to empowering others: giving them the skills, resources and confidence they need, from housing support to baby supplies. And if the family has older kids? Well, she's been there too. Her youngest is now 15 and Melissa knows the challenges of helping young people navigate inner-city life.

Melissa first learnt her craft as a support worker, then completed her statutory training as social worker - all while raising her family single-handed. And she's not done yet. Supported by her managers, she's been training in systemic therapy and is already looking forward to her next development opportunity.

Melissa's more than a social worker; she's a shining example to the families she works with every day., Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city's future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe. At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and
is empowered to be their best, that is Our Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/

As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.