Inside out Children & Families Outreach worker

The Inside Out Service is a new Jigsaw project that provides child and family centred, strengths-based support to alleviate the impact of parental imprisonment and support children and families in West Yorkshire to thrive.

Alongside family support, the Inside Out Strategic Lead will deliver awareness raising and capacity building with schools, early years services and Family Hubs across West Yorkshire, to increase understanding about the impact of imprisonment on children, challenge discrimination and develop community-based services that are responsive to families’ needs

The Inside Out Children and Family Outreach Workers (there are two posts) will provide direct support to parents/carers and children (aged 5-18) in West Yorkshire, who have a loved-one in prison.

Support will be provided through one-to-one case work, parent/carer peer support groups and children and young people’s activity groups.

The service aims to achieve the following outcomes for children and families affected by imprisonment in West Yorkshire:

• increase feelings of being listened to, supported, and included in decision-making
• improve emotional wellbeing
• increase understanding of the prison system and how it impacts on them
• increase support to maintain contact with their family member in custody (if appropriate).
• increase access to support in their community.

Key Tasks, Duties & Responsibilities

• Support the development of the Inside Out service by raising awareness of and promoting the offer in schools, Family Hubs, family support services and prisons to enable access to the service, support information sharing agreements and establish referral pathways.
• Identify children and family members who may need support through the project by actively engaging with children and families in the Jigsaw visit centres (at HMP Leeds and HMP Wealstun) to promote the service and gain referrals.
• Undertake initial assessments with parents/carers and children and young people (using outcome focused assessment tools to assess level/nature of need), supporting family members to develop individual action plans which are regularly reviewed to assess progress.
• Provide one to one, person-centred support for parents/carers and children and young people (aged 5-18 years old) either face to face (in their home, school or other community setting), over the telephone or online. Key elements will include supporting with housing, finances, schooling, parenting, emotional wellbeing, health and criminal justice etc. Support will be tiered depending on need identified by individual:
• Co-ordinate and deliver a quarterly peer support group for parents/carers in West Yorkshire with a partner/child in custody.
• Co-ordinate and deliver three activity groups per year for children and young people in West Yorkshire impacted by parental imprisonment.
• Support children and families with lived experience of parental imprisonment to inform the delivery and development of the Inside Out service, ensuring that their views/experiences inform: training delivery, strategic development and evaluation of Inside Out services.
• Support the Inside Out Strategic Lead in delivering training on the impact of parental imprisonment to multi-agency practitioners.
• Deliver the service in a timed and targeted manner, working through identified issues on the action plan, promoting case closure as an achievable outcome.
• Work in partnership (where relevant) and maintain positive and professional relationships with Adult and Children’s services, Family Hubs, schools, early years and family support providers and prisons across the statutory and voluntary sectors.
• Ensure that Jigsaw and partner agencies/local authority Safeguarding Children policies are adhered to at all times and that children feel welcomed, valued and safe.
• Using the Jigsaw database maintain comprehensive and contemporaneous records of all contacts through the use of case recording and monitoring systems including allocation of time spent on each case.
• Maintain close working relationships with Jigsaw Support team, and family engagement workers at HMP Leeds and HMP Wealstun.
• Attend Jigsaw monthly staff meeting to provide monthly updates on the service.
• Attend a weekly case meeting every Wednesday with Inside out team where cases are discussed and allocations agreed.
• Attend bi-monthly supervision with the Strategic lead and take responsibility for continuous professional development and identifying training needs.
• Support the use of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) with regard to children and young people who may be at risk, and support closer working between prisons, Probation Trusts, the CAF co-ordinator and team, Local Authority Children’s Social Care, Local Safeguarding Children’s Board, and Children’s Services such as Family hubs.
• Provide case studies which illustrate the nature of the work, and report on learning, obstacles and outcomes to the Strategic lead and steering group on a quarterly basis.
• Support the Inside Out evaluation consultant to undertake service evaluation activities.
• Adhere to prison security, safeguarding and public protection protocols and to escalate any concerns in a timely manner.
• Undertake all relevant prison based training including security awareness training, personal protection training and ‘Key Talk’.
• Maintain records of own annual leave, sickness etc.
• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the post as required