Cared For Children and Care Experienced Young People Service

Cared For Children and Care Experienced Young People Service

Join our Cared For Children and Care Experienced Young People Service

We are currently recruiting to the following positions:

·         Social Workers (Band 7 & 8) - £34,834- £40,221 per annum

·         Aftercare Workers - £29,777 - £31,364 per annum

In Trafford we have a ‘through care’ approach dedicated to children and young people who have a permanence plan, who then make the transition to being a care experienced young person. This ensures that practitioners in this service work together to ensure that our cared for children and care experienced young people receive the consistent care that they need and deserve - and are supported to tackle the ups and downs, move on in life and achieve their full potential.

The service manages the casework where a child or young person has a permanent care plan, ensuring that their placement needs are met with as little disruption as possible and that each child or young person has support and time to understand their journey and can heal from the impact of past experiences on their lives. We aim to sustain long-term relationships, providing the care and support essential to giving a sense of belonging and stability to children coming out of care proceedings, and pulling partners around children and carers to provide a network of support and guidance.

Creating a listening culture

We came together as a service to carry out an in-depth piece of work to explore how we collectively work with our children and young people. Our practitioners and managers welcomed the space that was created to have reflective discussions and to genuinely be a part of shaping the service and identifying shared goals on how to deliver the best possible care for Trafford’s Cared for Children and Care Experienced Young People.

We are now recruiting to strengthen our current teams. If you are successful in your application you will be joining a positive and forward-looking service with a clear vision.

What does it feel like to work at Trafford?

In the course of our recent work, colleagues talked about their experience of working in this very important service at Trafford. They told us:

“It is excellent to work for a local authority that is diverse and understanding. In particular for me, flexibility with work life balance is very helpful as a person with a young family.”

“Staff are supportive and Trafford offers a warm and welcoming working environment.”

“Supporting young adults with transition into adulthood can be very rewarding. It is very satisfying to see young people take onboard advice and be successful to achieve their desired targets.”

“In particular working with young adults over 18 can offer very enjoyable relationships that benefit not only the young person but develop yourself as a worker. This is evident when I see young adults who have grown up and no longer within the service. I am able to speak to them and hear about their ongoing progress and success, this can be a pleasure to hear and often an emotional moment.”

The Trafford approach

Here in Trafford Children’s Services our vision is that our teams are offering the right help at the right time, and that at all levels our interventions make life better for children and families. We are ambitious for our children and for our practitioners - and our core value is ‘would this be good enough for my child’?

In Trafford our approach is strengths-based, using relational and restorative practice. We want to have practitioners and managers who are confident and brave in their practice and are supported by strong leaders at all levels.

As a relatively small local authority, we pride ourselves on our friendly teams, manageable caseloads, creative approach and colleagues who support each other. We were delighted to see this recognised in the Ofsted report that followed our ILACS inspection in late 2022, which highlighted that “social workers in Trafford are overwhelmingly positive about both the local authority and the support they receive.”

Would you like to know more?

If you would like to know more about the role or what it is like to work in Trafford contact

Tracey Arnold (Head of Service) at tracey.arnold@trafford.gov.uk  or Mike Kelly (Interim Head of Service)  at mike.kelly@trafford.gov.uk .

Role Profiles

Please see below role profiles for more information on each of the roles we have available.

Social Worker Role Profile.pdf

Aftercare Workers Role Profile.pdf

How to apply

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to submit an application to join us here at Trafford.

Please click on the apply now link to submit an up to date copy of your CV and cover letter, stating which position you are applying for.