Personal Advisor (Care leavers)

Devon County Council is committed to supporting and improving the life chances of young people living in and leaving local authority care, in accordance with the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000.

We are committed to assisting Care Leavers to develop their independence and to help them become confident, successful and contributing citizens in their community.

We are seeking a dynamic and dedicated person to join The South Devon Permanency and Transition Team. The successful candidate must have a natural ability to develop trusting and supportive relationships with young people between the ages of 16-25 years who are living in care or leaving care.

Personal Advisors provide high quality and effective social care support to young people and young adults to promote, support and improve their life chances, safety, accommodation needs, education and employment, finance and independence skills. You will be required to manage and monitor a workload of cases as directed and organise work activities, taking into account the need to prioritise tasks and responsibilities and ensure that statutory and service responsibilities are undertaken within timescales.

You will be responsible for writing timely reports for young people, including plans, risk assessments and referrals.

You should have experience of direct work with young people, families and carers, and identifying their needs. You should also have experience of implementing service plans on the basis of assessed needs. You should have knowledge of applicable legislation including the Children Act (1989), The Children Leaving Care Act (2000) and the Children and Social Work Act (2017).

You will have a sound understanding of child and adolescent development and the particular difficulties and disadvantages associated with transition to adulthood for children in care.

You will have the ability to negotiate, challenge and manage conflict and be able to exercise individual judgement. It is important that you can be empathetic and understanding, but at the same time, persistent and tenacious. You are not one to judge people - you will listen and then offer practical solutions, an honest approach and the support and challenge needed to enable people to make positive changes in their lives.

You will need a flexible approach to working hours. You will need to travel around the county and to other parts of the country when required.