Young Persons Advisor

**What's involved with this role**:
**Ref number**:Islington RQ1356268**

**Enhanced DBS disclosure required**

As a Young Persons Adviser you will be responsible for working with care experienced young people, whilst maintaining the focus on safeguarding. You will work directly with young people and their family or carer to build empathic, purposeful relationships that facilitate meaningful and sustainable change, as well as stability in placement and permanency for children.

You will share and exercise the organisational practice ethos which places Motivational Practice and trauma-informed practice at the heart of working with families. You will be ambitious for every young person to reach their potential in all aspects of their development including education, health, and emotional wellbeing from 0-25.

**Key Responsibilities**:

- Contribute to the developing culture of trauma informed practice that helps to improve the quality of relationships with children and young people, through Motivational Practice.
- Deliver an efficient and effective leaving care service to young people that supports the outcomes of the The Children and Social Work Act 2017, Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000, and the Children Act 1989 in line with local and national policies.
- Assess risk and devise multi-agency plans for young people, whilst working closely with their professional network, parents and/or carers.
- Improve outcomes for children and young people by supporting them to come to terms with their losses, experience reparative parenting, establish meaningful relationships and by promoting their education, training and employment opportunities to enable them to lead fulfilling and successful lives.
- Develop your skills as a practitioner through engaging with the support services available to you including training, working closely with the embedded clinicians, individual reflective and group supervision.
- Work with the professional network to identify permanent placements for all young people at the earliest possible opportunity, ensuring that the right support is offered at the right time. The ultimate goal being to support our young people to secure independence as and when they are assessed to be ready to do so.
- Use a relationship based approach to improve placement stability. To provide skilled support to the placement that enables young people to develop independence skills, and to provide creative support packages that equips them to achieve independence in a timely manner.
- Work in partnership with the professional network to offer clear pathways and access to a range of universal, specialist and targeted services as and when required. To develop robust support packages for vulnerable young people including the provision of safeguards to prevent young people from falling between services.
- Work closely with the professional network to ensure that young people are in the appropriate placement for their needs, and as far as possible that they are given the opportunity for family life.
- Building and sustaining transformational relationships and meaningful direct work with young people, families, their carers’ and professionals. Practitioners need the skills and capabilities to develop and sustain these relationships.

**Qualifications**:

- A relevant vocational qualification - at least to NVQ4

**Knowledge**:

- Knowledge of relevant legislation, national standards, policy and practice, including current issues in safeguarding and the provision of leaving care services.

**Experience**:

- Experience of working with young people, children and/or their families.
- Demonstrate evidence of building purposeful relationships balancing empathy and authority. You will show experience of direct work, working with the impact of trauma and ensuring safeguarding is always prioritised.

**Skills & Abilities**:

- Demonstrate high organisational skills and ability to prioritise workload to meet the requirements of the organisation and national systems. Advocate for the children and young people you work with to receive organisational focus, resource, and support from internal and external agencies.
- Ability to liaise effectively with partner agencies, independent sector and voluntary providers in Islington in services to care leavers.
- Able to demonstrate effective interpersonal skills through working well with others, being confident with any advice given and by engendering trust and confidence in others.
- Ability to make assessments of young people incorporating multidisciplinary input into assessments and formulating multi-agency plans that support and manage risk. This includes, but not limited to, young people experiencing serious youth violence, substance misuse difficulties, mental health needs, disabilities and positive risk taking as expected within this age group.
- Demonstrate the ability to act upon (e.g., consultation and referral to other services) child and adult mental ill health, substance misuse,