Practice Manager - Northamptonshire County Council - Northamptonshire
(2019-08 - 2025-05)
Working within a multi-disciplinary context for children in care to develop effective working partnerships with other agencies and services involved to ensure that positive outcomes are achieved in all key areas of service user's lives - these include education, health, Home Office, legal, Refugee Council, Barnardos, UASC regional board and other relevant voluntary and statutory services.
- Having thorough working knowledge and implementing national standards, relevant legislation, and guidance research, departmental policies and procedures, Home Office protocols and institute legal processes where necessary
- To organise and delegate workload and provide monitoring, professional development and professional supervision of family support workers, experienced, newly qualified and student/trainee social workers and to social workers in situations of high complexity cases – strategy meetings, Need to Know
- Managing a current and reliable record of allocation, assurance in service provision and ensuring a high standard of service delivery in line with departmental policy, equal opportunities, health and safety
- Improve the quality of casework through: undertaking case file audits, quality assurance of assessments, care plans, pathway plans, age assessment, human rights assessments and court paperwork using the Signs of Safety Model
- Contribute to training, work on professionals standards for team, contribute to planning or project work for the development of the service, when necessary providing direct support to individual service users
- To assist in the management of operational service, complaints, representations and appeals in line with service area protocols; maintaining and utilising information systems to ensure best practice as part of a robust quality assurance system; inform performance and budget management of the team and organisation; to Chair and attend case and other reviews/meeting, strategy discussions, team meetings
Practice Leader/Senior Social Worker - Tripod Partners recruitment Agency-Warwickshire County Council and Birmingham City Council - Northamptonshire
(2017-10 - 2019-04)
No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF)/ Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children's Team (UASC)
- Manage and hold a high caseload in line with current childcare legislation, departmental policies and procedures
- Working in partnership with children, families and other agencies to achieve the best possible outcome for the child
- Care planning, assessments including age assessments, risk assessments, child in need plans/reviews, statutory visits
- S31 – full care order for abandoned child (court work)
- Attendance at gateway meetings, completion of case summaries
- Placement plans in foster care and semi-independent accommodations
- Pathway plans in conjunction with young people, foster carers, health, education and key workers of housing providers
- Looked After children reviews, child in need reviews
- Child trafficking work and triple planning
- Permanency planning
- Direct work with young people and acting as appropriate adult in Home Office / Solicitor interviews
- Personal Education Plan meetings
- Case chronologies and genograms
- Connected persons assessments and arranging contact with relatives/siblings
- Multi agency working to improve outcomes for the child
- Being part of strategy meetings and working in partnership with various multi-agencies; police, health, home office, solicitors, education, mental health, accommodation providers, SEN
Children in Care Team - Birmingham City Council - Birmingham
(2017-07 - 2017-09)
left to join the UASC team with Northamptonshire
- Care planning for children in care, assessments, arranging and supervision of contact, direct work, statutory visit, LAC reviews
Practice Leader/Senior Social Worker - Northamptonshire County Council - Northamptonshire
(2017-10 - 2019-04)
No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF)/ Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children's Team (UASC)
- Manage and hold a high caseload in line with current childcare legislation, departmental policies and procedures
- Working in partnership with children, families and other agencies to achieve the best possible outcome for the child
- Care planning, assessments including age assessments, risk assessments, child in need plans/reviews, statutory visits
- S31 – full care order for abandoned child (court work)
- Attendance at gateway meetings, completion of case summaries
- Placement plans in foster care and semi-independent accommodations
- Pathway plans in conjunction with young people, foster carers, health, education and key workers of housing providers
- Looked After children reviews, child in need reviews
- Child trafficking work and triple planning
- Permanency planning
- Direct work with young people and acting as appropriate adult in Home Office / Solicitor interviews
- Personal Education Plan meetings
- Case chronologies and genograms
- Connected persons assessments and arranging contact with relatives/siblings
- Multi agency working to improve outcomes for the child
- Being part of strategy meetings and working in partnership with various multi-agencies; police, health, home office, solicitors, education, mental health, accommodation providers, SEN
Senior Social worker - Warwickshire County Council & Leaving Care Team - Warwickshire
(2015-10 - 2016-08)
Supporting team with backlog age assessments, human rights assessment and care planning/pathway planning for children in care and care leavers
Senior Social Worker - Birmingham City Council - Birmingham
(2015-03 - 2015-10)
UASC and NRPF work
- UASC- see job description below with Warwickshire
- NRPF - Undertaking screenings and single assessments, statutory visits, Child In Need Meetings/Plans, signposting and multi-agency working to help destitute families with dependent children under S17 of CA 1989, who are unable to access statutory services including welfare benefits, housing support and adult social care support due to their immigration status
- Often children are accommodated under S20 of The CA 1989 and S47 pursued due to safeguarding issues and very often mother's in single parent families being sectioned under the mental health act
- In appropriate cases the team may provide support that is not otherwise available to those who are in need of care and attention such as children with special education needs or disability
Qualified Senior Social Worker - Northamptonshire County Council - Northamptonshire
(2015-01 - 2015-02)
mentor
Voluntary/work holiday abroad - Career break - Bangladesh
(2013-11 - 2014-01)
undertook voluntary /work holiday abroad to set up a charity project in health and education for families in remote areas of Bangladesh unable to access mainstream services due to disabilities, transportation or finances
Practice Leader/Supervisor - Warwickshire County Council - Warwickshire
(2008-06 - 2013-10)
Children's Asylum Team and Leaving Care Team (Looked After Children & Care Leavers)
- Manage and supervise a team of social workers, personal advisors, family support workers, admin staff
- Deputise for Operational Manager in her absence and co work on developing the team performance/target
- Managing incoming work, allocation, duty, complaints from service users, professionals and other agencies
- Regional/local meetings to help improve service area – mental health, ESOL, workshops during evenings/weekends
- Manage performance in line with departmental and government guidelines
- Responsible for expenditure against set budgets
- Monitoring and auditing case files in line with policies and current legislation
- Ensuring health and safety responsibilities are carried out in accordance with departmental Policies and procedures
- Responsible for staff development, team targets and appraisals
- Practice Assessor – mentoring newly qualified social workers on the ASYE and student social workers
- Managing the more complex cases in team or co working
- Chairing Pathway Plan Review meetings for care leavers and undertaking file audits
- Worked jointly with other fostering social workers to assess and write up kinship/connected person's assessments and carer/ connected persons assessments
- Joint work with fostering team – carer/ connected persons assessments
- Training foster carers to understand the needs of this group of young people in addition to child care standards
- Prepared court reports, witness statement and gave evidence in court for a 4 day period in relation to an age assessment that was contested by a service user
Senior Social Worker - Warwickshire County Council Children's Asylum Team – Looked After Children - Warwickshire
(2004-10 - 2008-06)
Children's Asylum Team – Looked After Children - Coventry City Council - Coventry
(2004-01 - 2004-10)
- Manage and be accountable for a range of complex cases referred to the unit at the request of the manager in line with current childcare legislation
- Attend all relevant multi agency meetings and lac reviews, in order to assist children and young people help identify and meet their needs and immigration status
- Court attendance with young people to act as appropriate adult/advocate and provide information or reports as and when requested
- Initial Assessments, Core Assessments, Human Rights Assessments, Age Assessments, Care plans, Placement plans
- LAC work for children, statutory visits and reviews, most children were placed with foster carers and others in supported/semi-independent accommodation
- Leaving Care – children over 16, devising pathway plans, giving advice on and setting up/ escorting to appointments for benefits, accommodation and education
- Pathway plan reviews- for over 18's (care leavers) carrying out reviews until aged 21 or aged 24 if they are in further education
- Working with service users who have had their appeal rights exhausted (ARE) and have no rights to benefits
- Working with traumatised service users from war torn countries with PTSD, direct work, referrals to specialist support
- Joint working with the fostering team – kinship assessments
- Multi-agency working with the police, health, education, SEN, home office, Refugee Council, Barnardos, migrant support and solicitors
- Strategy discussion meetings and personal Education plans
Qualified Social Worker - Warwickshire County Council - Warwickshire
(2001-08 - 2003-12)
Children's Long Term Team (CIC)
- Child protection, Children in need and Looked After Children
- Looked After Children reviews and Statutory placement visits
- Statutory LAC paperwork, care plans and placement plans
- Managing large case load consisting of CP, court work and duty
- Conducting assessments – initial, core and risk assessments, pathway plans
- Co-ordinating and chairing multi-agency core group meetings
- Writing court reports and attending court for directions hearings and an adoption case
- Direct work with children/young people and arranging family contact
- S47 investigations
- Strategy discussions / child protection conferences
Volunteer - Coventry Sahil Project and Asra Care - Coventry
(1996-01 - 2000-12)
whilst undertaking study at college and University
- Voluntary work with Asian adults suffering from mental health and isolation – one to one and group work
- Assisting them to manage day to day living which consisted of befriending, assisting in client homes or escorting to appointments, cooking, self-care, support with child care services , support with signposting/referrals
Voluntary/charity work - Community - Coventry
(1991-11 - 1996-12)
work in the community whilst having my two children
Education Department – business support - Coventry City Council - Coventry
(1987-10 - 1991-07)
- Providing business support service to managers and team of project workers delivering vocational services to young people
Medical administrator - Coventry Doctors Surgery - Coventry
(1987-01 - 1990-12)
- Worked evenings and weekends to undertake a range of administration tasks, managing patient files, interpreting for the Bengali patients
