A fantastic opportunity to come and join the Children First team

Children First’s ambition is for every child in Scotland to be safe, loved and well with their family. As a charity we offer emotional, practical, and financial support to help families to put children first and campaign to uphold the rights of every child.

We are looking for peripatetic Family Group Decision Making Coordinator to support teams who have short term recruitment and capacity gaps, mainly in Central/ West of Scotland. As an FGDM coordinator you will work with children and families of all ages and at different stages of risk and need, depending on the service specific criteria. You will have the opportunity to work with several teams through a blend of virtual and face to face work.

Family Group Decision Making is working with family groups in a strengths-based way to support them to create Family Plans, keeping children safe and at home within their family networks.

This is an exciting opportunity for anyone interested in Family Group Decision Making, or strengths-based approaches to working with families, and would like to extend their skill set. It’s also an opportunity for existing FGDM coordinators to increase their hours. FT/PT options may be available.

Children First are determined that the full incorporation of the UNCRC means that children will have their rights respected in all areas of their lives and will have a real say in the way they are supported. If you share this determination, we would love to hear from you.

What kind of people are we looking for?

• have experience of keeping children safe in their own families
• are fiercely passionate about children’s rights
• think it’s a privilege to work with and on behalf of children and families and
• are kind and will bring their whole selves to the job: heart and mind

What kind of team member will you be?

Knowing our ambition for children, you will be someone who is:

• resilient, skilled and knowledgeable who wants to transform children’s lives
• determined to support children to stay safely with their own family
• big hearted and courageous
• able to build strong relationships and to manage the tricky conversations
• is compassionate and understanding of trauma
• a cool head and clear minded at times of pressure
• inspiring colleagues and teams to be even better
• an amazing ambassador for children and Children First

Above all else, the most important thing to us is that you are someone who will do the right thing for children and their families at every turn.

At Children First, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team that reflects communities across Scotland. Guided by our values, With Love, With Purpose, With Strength, we strive to create a culture where everyone feels valued, respected, and supported to thrive. We actively work to remove barriers to inclusion and promote equity in all aspects of our work. We warmly welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, especially those from marginalised communities, and are dedicated to ensuring a fair and supportive recruitment process.

Base

You will be based in Central/ West of Scotland.

Salary, Conditions, Pension

We will offer you a competitive salary, generous annual leave entitlement (40 days inclusive of 9 public holidays). ​We have additional benefits such as a cash back health plan, cycle to work scheme, and option to join a ​Credit Union.

Benefits:

• 29 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays, with up to 5 additional days for continuous service and option to buy or sell leave
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities
• Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages
• Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover
• Staff discount portal and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers discounts.
• Vulnerable children in the UK need your help

Wherever you work in the Action for Children family, you'll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

Last year, we helped more than 670,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive.

Why Action for Children?

Working here is more than a job. Everyone in the Action for Children family is passionate about protecting and supporting children. It's the sense of purpose that drives us every single day. Because we know that, when we work together, we can make a huge difference to bring lasting improvements to vulnerable children's lives.

A bit about the role

Action for Children's Intensive Intervention Service is a voluntary service that aims to support children and young people aged 11-18 years who may be at risk of or coerced into, involvement with serious offending and criminal activity.

The service forms partnership with City of Edinburgh Council, Police Scotland, and Education as part of a multi-agency partnership strategy to intervene in a child or young person's life as early as possible to prevent the likelihood or impact of criminal exploitation.

The aim of the service is to provide intensive 1:1, group work and diversionary activities to help equip the child or young person with the necessary skills and tools to make positive choices and to re-engage and sustain education, training, or employment.

We’re seeking a dedicated Practitioner to provide targeted intervention to children and young people, fostering their potential and aiding them in overcoming personal barriers. The goal is to empower positive lifestyle choices by collaborating within various community settings. Working closely with families is paramount, as we strive to strengthen relationships and address vulnerabilities.

We highly encourage applications from individuals who have lived experience relevant to this role.

How you'll help to create brighter futures

Some key responsibilities of a Young Persons Practitioner role are;

• Leading interventions, ensuring positive outcomes, in line with policies and regulations.
• Supporting children and young people to re-engage in education and employment.
• Managing a caseload within the Services.
• Building strong relationships with individuals, organizations, and agencies and undertaking home visits where necessary.
• Attending meetings as required, including presenting cases at monthly meetings.
• Upholding safety policies and procedures for a positive work environment.

Let's talk about you

• SVQ /Diploma Level 3 or equivalent qualification in early years and childcare, social care or related background.
• Experience of working with young people in social work or experience in criminal justice.
• Working within a multi-agency social care, early years or health environment and applying safeguarding procedures
• Experience of managing cases, in accordance with agreed procedures and completing assessments, planning and reviews to ensure positive outcomes
• Ability to communicate effectively and engagingly and to maintain independent professional relationships, boundaries
• Provide outreach support across Edinburgh (Car mileage expenses reimbursed)

Good to know

Application Process

Please note we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.

Contact: Laura McCarthy at recruitmentservice@actionforchildren.org.uk quoting reference 10925

Diversity, equality and inclusion

At Action for Children, we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace.

We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic and disabled candidates as they are under-represented within Action for Children. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups in society and for Action for Children.

Male staff are under-represented within our Children Service roles. We would like to encourage more male applicants for our Children Service roles.

Don't meet every single requirement?

If you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with the job description, we'd love you to apply anyway. You might just be the perfect person for this role, or another role within the Action for Children family.

Relationships Scotland Borders is looking for their next part-time Administrator to join our small, but highly committed and supportive team.

Are you looking for a flexible, home-based role that can offer hours to fit around the school run, or other commitments you might have? If so, then read on…………….

Relationships are at the heart of our lives and here at Relationships Scotland Borders, we support people with their relationship difficulties. We understand and know that everyone’s experiences and struggles are unique. We provide a range support, from individual and couples counselling, Child Contact Centres, to mediation services that can all help to support people to find their own solutions and enhance their wellbeing, mental health and happiness.

We deliver our range of services to help and support children and their families across the Scottish Borders. To support this work, we are looking for someone dynamic, enthusiastic and passionate, with a genuine desire to help others.

Within this role the successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring that our operations and processes run smoothly and to a high standard, with a core focus on excellent customer service.

We are looking for someone that is based in the Scottish Borders, with at least 5 years of previous experience as an administrator. You will be able to demonstrate experience of working remotely, a self-starter that understands the importance of meeting deadlines and managing your workload effectively. You will have excellent administrative and financial experience, be able to handle confidential information, communicate with clients and their families with care and sensitivity, as well as the ability to manage our work with local solicitors and other partners across the Scottish Borders. We can offer you a varied and interesting role with plenty of support as and when needed.

Join us and you'll become part of a team that cares about the work we do and the people we work with. You'll discover opportunities to grow, along with challenges and a shared purpose that'll bring the best out in you. And you'll get to find your own way to make the difference that means more to the families we support across the Scottish Borders.

If you’re interested in learning more about this fantastic role, please take a look at the Job Description and Person Specification, or why not visit our website: relationships-scotlandborders.org.uk

We are seeking to recruit an enthusiatic and committed project worker to join our Pentland Way Residential Service.

We currently have a full-time vacancy working on a dayshift rota basis (including weekends). Our full-time position (37 hours) is typically 2 x 12 hour shifts and 1 x 13 hour shift.

Barnardo's Caern Disability Services consists of three unique Projects who deliver a variety of quality services for young people with learning disabilities and/or autism. We have done this for over forty years.

Our Pentland Way service supports up to 3 young people in a residential setting. Our staff play an active role in supporting the young people and their families/carers to achieve positive outcomes, as identified in the Young People's Individual Support Plans.

About You:

Ideally you will have experience in working directly with children and young people in a similar setting. Experience in supporting children and young people with a learning disability and/or Autism would be an advantage. Communication with the young people is paramount - the key is time tabling; structure; reliability and consistency. You will be faced with behaviours that challenge, including physical.

The staff team across Caern Services must be fully accepting of our children and be prepared to offer them a professional relationship based on acceptance and informed by our understanding of their individual needs, wishes and experiences. We are passionate about the children and young people that we care for, showing understanding, empathy and consistency in our approach.

You will hold (or be willing to work towards) a relevant professional qualification at SCQF level 7 or above (for example SVQ3 children and young people) plus an HNC in social services. These qualifications are required to register with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) as part of your employment. There may be external grants available to partly fund this.

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing after 5 years service
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is reflected in our values and our practice, and we have invested in this area of our work to ensure that we can deliver on our commitments to be an inclusive employer. EDI is a key enabler of our purpose as a charity and we want to ensure that the diversity of our teams is reflective of the communities we serve and that we continue to learn and develop our work with a focus on inclusion. We particularly encourage applications from candidates from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic Communities, candidates who are LGBT+ and Disabled candidates.

Our basis and values