Children and Families Caseworker

Are you a proactive, compassionate and collaborative individual?

Do you have a proven record of successfully engaging with challenging families and young people? 

Do you have lived, personal experience of the Criminal Justice System and/or care system? 

If so, join St Giles Trust as our Children and Families Caseworker to support young people and their families who are at risk of Youth violence or criminal exploitation.

As a Children & Families Caseworker, you will be tasked with providing both face-to-face and virtual/remote 1:1 case work to children, young people and their Families who are at risk of; involved in or on the periphery of gangs and serious youth violence.

You will use your cultural competency and lived experience to engage young people involved in serious youth violence and exploitation. 

You will be one of 4 practitioners for this geographical area, providing a holistic approach to supporting young people and families in the community. Contributing towards the overarching aim of reducing harm, risk and exclusions (where relevant), you will work closely with social workers, youth offending agencies and schools/PRU’s, developing a relationship based on trust, which prioritises safeguarding. 

You will play a central role in deterring young people from offending and safeguarding families who may be at risk. 

You will work with them for a set period, aiming to reduce key risk factors and behaviours. We will be relying on you to maintain the high standards of the service, ensuring the successful delivery of the outcomes, and compiling reports and recording data where necessary.

£27,729 pa FTE (pro rata salary £13,864.50 pa) + generous benefits

Fixed term until 31/03/2027

Ref CFC-261(0.5)

About St Giles Trust

An ambitious, well-established charity that helps people facing adversity to find jobs, homes and the right support they need.  

Central to our ethos is our belief that people with first-hand experience of successfully overcoming issues such as an offending background, homelessness, addictions and gang involvement, hold the key to positive change in others.

The Children and Families team will support 45 young people and their families a year as part of our Greenwich Gangs team. 

Gang involvement increases the risk of violence and victimisation to the young person, their friends and their family, therefore, it is essential when supporting young people to exit gangs we adopt a ‘whole family’ approach. 

What we are looking for

• To have lived, personal experience of the Criminal Justice System and/or care system.
• Experience of working with socially excluded children, young people and adults and of providing advice and guidance and/or mentoring to them.
• Experience of successfully engaging with challenging families and young people, e.g. those who have complex needs, people who are reluctant to discuss their needs and people who are angry and confused. 
• Understanding of the UK care system and the challenges faced by those who enter it.
• Knowledge of gangs, knife crime and patterns of offending in London. 
• Knowledge of safeguarding, child protection and risk management practice
• Understanding of child criminal exploitation (CCE) and child sexual exploitation (CSE)
• Strong IT skills, including case recording systems and standard Microsoft applications

Please note: this role requires an Enhanced DBS check with child barred list.

In return, you can expect a competitive salary, generous leave allowance, staff pension, access to clinical supervision, flexible working, a mentoring programme, an advice and counselling service, season ticket loan and much more.

We are an equity and inclusion confident employer. We welcome all applications, and we particularly encourage applications from people of the global majority (black, brown, multi- heritage) and those who identify as disabled, neuro-expansive, neurodiverse, with any protected characteristics and/or social barriers or challenges. We value the empowering and informative impact that all lived experiences and diversity of thought can offer the organisation.

St Giles will guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria set out in the Job Description for the vacancy.