Children's Residential Care Team Leader Position

About the Role

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Care Team Leader to join our team at Swanton Care & Community Ltd. As a Care Team Leader, you will play a vital role in providing high-quality care and support to children and young people with complex needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the Registered Manager in leading the day-to-day management of a shift, providing practical assistance and emotional support to empower your team in supporting the children they support to achieve their goals and aspirations.
• Lead the team in providing a therapeutic environment for young people to enable them to express and manage their emotions and learn new coping skills.
• Work closely with a psychologist to support the team in providing a therapeutic environment.
• Support the recruitment, maintenance, and development of the staffing team.
• Ensure the home is run in line with company policy and hold supervisory responsibilities for members of the team.
• Run shifts and promote positive relationships within the home.
• Undertake a wide range of duties, including direct care of children with complex needs.
• Work shifts and work flexibly to meet the needs of the children and fulfill all health and safety requirements.
• Provide part of the on-call service for the children's homes if required.
• Act as a member of the team and assist the management in giving the highest standard of care possible to all the children and young people at Swanton Care & Community Ltd.
• Understand the importance of confidentiality in all client matters at all times.
• Act as a role model in conjunction with colleagues to ensure yours and their welfare and create a safe, clean, and secure environment for all children and young people and relatives.
• Take overall responsibility in ensuring the running of the home is to its highest possible standard, coordinating the shift, allocating child supervision, and prioritizing care.
• Act accountable as a resource and role model for the junior staff and the children and young people.
• Adopt a forward-thinking approach to care provided and act as the children's advocate in conjunction with the junior staff.
• Work in a variety of settings if needed, in order to support the children, in the child's family home, educational setting, and activity setting, etc.
• Develop skills in order that the child's individual health, social, emotional, and psychological development needs are met.
• Provide support, advice, and information to the children, parents, and other carers as required.
• Demonstrate an awareness of child development and the child's need for appropriate cognitive age play, adhering to the rostered activity rota.
• Act as a driver/escort for the child if needed.
• Once trained, provide and carry out clinical duties necessary to meet the child/young person's health needs on a daily basis.
• Accountable for petty cash while on duty and adhere to the company policy and procedure.
• Organize time management to accommodate rostered activities and intensive interaction for the shift.
• Complete supervisions for allocated staff in line with policy and procedure.
• Identify training requirements for members of the team and actively support team members to develop within their role.
• Undertake any other duties reasonably requested by the Management.

Communication

• Maintain clearly written, accurate contemporaneous records of involvement with children and their families; in addition, ensure all other child/young person's documentation is completed and up to date before the end of shift.
• Report any unusual occurrence in the child's appearance, condition, or behavior to management, where necessary adhere to child protection policy.
• Answer telephone and act in a polite, professional manner, where possible, dealing with any queries, otherwise leaving a clear accurate message for management.
• Act as an ambassador for Swanton Care & Community Ltd at all times.
• Ensure daily log, memo file, and handover file are checked and completed.
• Ensure diaries are checked and adhere to, delegating responsibilities where necessary.
• Take part in and ensure thorough client handover takes place ensuring client confidentiality at all times.
• Work in conjunction with the key workers and management in evaluating ongoing care needs and child/young person's development.
• Be aware of the emotional, psychological, and social needs of the children/young person.
• Demonstrate empathy and sensitivity to others that is non-judgmental and shows respect for their beliefs, values, and culture.
• Liaise with multi-disciplinary professionals and form inter-agency links and networks.
• Oversee coordination of the shift ensuring all agreed policies and procedures are adhered to.
• Take responsibility to keep yourself up to date with any changes in plans, risk assessments, etc. for the children/young people, including read over files when returning from annual leave or any absences.
• Attend all staff meetings and any extra responsibility meetings relevant to your role.
• Use appropriate methods and language to communicate in a succinct and clear manner, to listen and take account of others' views and needs. Show understanding and use logic to communicate.
• Implement and use appropriate methods of communication to provide consistency, structure, and predictability encouraging positive engagement.

Legal and Ethical

• Know the importance of parental involvement in decision-making and the legal requirements regarding parental consent.
• Have knowledge of the rights of the child in conjunction with Children's Regulations and Quality Standards, Every Child Matters, and the importance of giving them information according to their level of understanding.
• Be personally responsible in demonstrating your awareness of the relevant legislation within childcare, in particular Children's Regulations, Children's Home Quality Standards, and all other Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines for Swanton Care & Community Ltd.
• Have a clear understanding of the role and function of OFSTED.
• Ensure the provision of the service adheres to the statement of purpose and all relevant legislation.
• Hold the company values and have pride in your work, acting as an ambassador for Swanton Care & Community Ltd at all times.
• Have an up-to-date understanding of Safeguarding Children Procedure and Looked after Children Procedure.

Training

• Support the management by keeping up to date with the training programme for the whole staff team in line with the Workforce Plan.
• Attend all relevant courses, in-service training days, and statutory annual updates in line with the training programme.
• Identify own training needs which ensures your competence to meet all the needs of the resident children/young people.
• Develop a personal development plan with staff team for whom hold supervisory responsibility.
• Maintain personal responsibility for personal training and being professionally updated.
• Act as a mentor during induction, orientation for all staff and delegate support for new members of the team, ensuring they achieve competence within their probation period.
• Maintain an overall awareness of current issues in any identified field required for the smooth running of the home.

General

• Be responsible for promoting ongoing improvements in the overall successful running of Swanton Care & Community Ltd.
• All staff will be expected to attend and contribute to staff meetings and senior staff meetings.
• Work as an effective member of a multi-disciplinary team creating positive working relationships.
• All annual leave will be booked in accordance with Swanton Care & Community Ltd policy and directly through the management team.
• Take responsibility for the coordination of evacuating the home in case of a fire, adhering to the evacuation procedure.
• You are expected to report on duty at commencement time of shift, any lateness must be reported to management and documented on the rota and in the daily log.
• Any sickness should be conducted as per policy and a back to work form must be completed on return to work. Any sickness must be reported directly to the senior staff on shift and management and recorded on the rota.
• It is your responsibility to ensure any staff returning from sickness, complete sickness form and read back over all documentation up to their last day in work.
• At work, overcome difficulties, setbacks, and pressures to get things done, understanding the impact of related complex needs and to recognize and encourage commitment in others.
• Support children/young people with complex needs to experience life opportunities which promote the growth of individuals to their maximum potential.