Personal Advisor

**Job Introduction**:
Bradford Children and Families Trust is expanding and developing the Care Leavers Service to support the delivery of excellent relational practice and outcomes for Bradford care leavers. The service is recruiting for Personal Advisors to work with children and young people aged between 16 years and 25 years of age who are preparing to leave care or who have left care.

Care leavers face significant barriers and challenges. They often leave home younger than their peers, without consistent family support, and navigate independence while dealing with the impact of adverse childhood experiences, abuse, and trauma, compounded by instability in care. Sadly, care leavers statistically face poorer long-term outcomes compared to their non-care experienced peers. They are less likely to be in education, employment, or training, and are disproportionately more likely to suffer from long-term mental health conditions, be overrepresented in the adult homeless population, and the population of adults in custody.

**About the Role**

Bradford Children and Families Trust Care Leavers Service aims to change this narrative. We want our care leavers to succeed and thrive. Personal Advisors are essential towards this aim. Personal advisors guide and support young people leaving care to navigate the path to adulthood and support them to build the skills and support networks that they need to live a successful adult life.

Personal Advisors help young people to plan for their future. They support young people by creating a pathway plan with them, which outlines their rights, entitlements what support they need to develop into adulthood and how this will be provided.

Personal Advisors are resourceful and practical, helping young people to develop the skills that they need such as money skills, managing a home, food shopping and other practical skills. They also help young people plan their education, training and employment options and help young people to get the right support they need for their health and wellbeing, social needs, relationships, and housing.

**About you**

We want young people leaving care to feel loved and cared about and to know that we have high aspirations for their future. If you believe this too, believe that you can be that caring person for young people leaving care and make a positive impact on their lives, we want to hear from you.

Personal advisors must be empathetic, able to connect with young people, be a good listener and be able to build strong trusting relationships with young people. Personal advisors need to understand the difficulties that leaving care can pose for children in care and care leavers and demonstrate empathy and care for them.

You will need to be confident, proactive and able to work in partnership with all multi-agencies to ensure young people get the support and care they need.

To do this role you will need to be committed and passionate about helping young people achieve their potential, be resourceful and tenacious in getting the support that they need to thrive and want to achieve the best outcomes for their future.

**You must hold**
- G.C.S.E (or equivalent) Mathematics grade C and English grade C
- Experience of working directly with children, young people and families
- NVQ Level 4 in Childcare / Youth Work or related field or considerable work-based experience in a similar field.
- Experience in related fields such as homelessness, youth work, youth justice, residential care, or adult services is valuable
- Ability to build trusting and supporting relationships with young people
- Demonstrate a good understanding of adolescent development and an understanding of leaving care legislation and leaving care rights and entitlements
- Admin skills
- Ability to author reports, prepare plans and maintain accurate and clear casework records
- Have excellent communication skills
- A driving licence and access to a car with business Insurance unless a disability prevents this

**About the Trust**

Bradford Children and Families Trust was established in April 2023 to enhance the quality and delivery of Children’s Services across our district.

Our purpose is clear - to ensure that our promise to improve the lives of children and young people in Bradford becomes a reality. It is a tough ask. It requires dedication, determination, and resilience - but under a new Chief Executive, Senior Leadership team and an unswerving drive to deliver the best outcomes, we are confident that we will achieve our ambition.

Working for the Bradford Children and Families Trust offers the opportunity to work with some great people who are passionate about delivering change in a city whose culture offers as much diversity as it’s geography. You can make a real difference to families and children and be an active part in delivering the service Bradford families should receive.

So, if you are up for the challenge and want an opportunity to make a real impact, we would love to