Member Job Opportunity: St Christopher's - Supervising Social Worker – Chelmsford - Part Time1/8/2019
 Location: Fostering Chelmsford Contract Type: Permanent Closing Date: 04 August 2019 Salary: Salary £28,766 - £33,843 per annum pro-rata depending on experience Specific Hours: 2 days a week (15 hours) We have a fantastic opportunity to join our team and a growing fostering service in Chelmsford where you will be able to contribute to achieving positive results for young people.
As a Supervising Social Worker, you will contribute to the growth and development of St Christopher’s fostering services by playing a key role in the recruitment, training and assessment of foster carers and by building positive relationships with referring authorities and other professionals. Applicants should have:
In return we offer:
Recruitment Process At St Christopher’s Fellowship we are committed to the safeguarding and protection of Children and Young People. We use applications forms to capture the essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements. Unfortunately, CV's will not be considered. Your application must include a supporting statement addressing the criteria given in the Person Specification available on our website. Applicants will ideally already be on the DBS Update Service; if this is not the case St Christopher's will carry out a DBS (police) check prior to starting. For the full Job Description for this role and more detail about what will be required, please click here. Your application must include a supporting statement addressing the criteria given in the Person Specification. Closing Date: 4th August 2019 Please bear in mind that applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. St Christopher’s is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community as well as applications from candidates with care experience or experience of being a care leaver. Full details and apply here  St Christopher’s is pleased to welcome recommendations from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People about how different groups can better support children in care with managing their money. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People launched this inquiry with a call for evidence, which St Christopher’s contributed to in January 2019. The strength of our expertise then secured us an invitation to the next stage of their inquiry, where Chief Executive Jonathan Whalley met with MPs in March 2019 to share more detail about our experiences and recommendations for how we can better equip young people to manage their finances. The report outlines 22 key recommendations for schools, foster carers, local authorities, government, charities and businesses. St Christopher’s is directly quoted in the report about the importance of where young people’s financial education comes from.  The APPG’s suggestions include making financial education a statutory part of the school curriculum, giving foster carers access to training, tools and resources, and providing government funding for people working with children in care and care leavers so that they are trained in financial education too. By recognising the roles that all these organisations and individuals can play in making financial education a success, we hope that there are more resources available for young people to make use of and more people supporting them to achieve.
The recommendations also outline how they want organisations to keep care leavers’ financial education central to their corporate social responsibility work and for banks to make sure it is easy for children in care to set up and access a bank account. At St Christopher’s we put children at the heart of all we do, so we are delighted to see this approach being recommended for other organisations too. Whilst we support these suggestions and the introduction of a minimum standard, much more can still be done to ensure care leavers have the right support around them to help them succeed in independence. Leaving care is a process, not a one off event, so we need to keep listening to what young people say about their needs and wishes. We hope that all care professionals do what they can to go beyond these recommendations to create the bright futures that our young people deserve. We look forward to seeing how these recommendations are implemented over the coming months. Source: https://www.stchris.org.uk  Location: Head Office Contract Type: Permanent Closing Date: 14 July 2019 Salary: £60,000 - £65,000 pa depending on qualifications and experience Specific Hours: 37.5 hours per week St Christopher's is a leading charity for children and young people and we are proud of our history for providing fostering, children's homes and a range of innovative leaving care services across the UK & Isle of Man.
St Christopher’s has established an ambitious, five-year strategy, which sets out a series of three key aims and objectives for the organisation. Mainly to achieve, “Brighter Futures for double the number of young people by 2023”. As part of our Strategy, a new Head of Operations post has been created and we are now looking for the right person to drive our expansion plans to meet increasing need as well as oversee our established services in the UK region. Reporting to the Director of Operations you will line manage a professional team (of 4 Regional Managers and 2 placement officers) who are well qualified and experienced in their respective roles. St Christopher’s Approach At St Christopher’s, Social Pedagogy is our core philosophy of care, drawing together theories and concepts from related disciplines such as sociology, psychology, education, philosophy, medical sciences and social work. Our use of social pedagogy centres on attachment theory and building positive relationships with young people to bring out their inner “diamond”. About the Role We have a passionate commitment to our young people, placing them at the centre of everything we do and as the Head of Operations; you will be a key player in building and extending this commitment. You will the lead the regional teams to deliver and exceed our agreed levels of care ensuring stable and safe placements. In addition, you will be the designated safeguarding officer placing the safeguarding of children and young people at the forefront of all our work in accordance with St Christopher’s safeguarding policy. The successful candidate will ideally:
In return we offer:
Recruitment Process At St Christopher’s we are committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people in our care. As part of our recruitment process you will be expected to complete an online application to ensure we capture essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements. Applicants will ideally already be on the DBS Update Service; if this is not the case St Christopher's will carry out a DBS (police) check prior to starting. For the full Job Description and Person Specification, please click here. Your application must include a supporting statement addressing the criteria given in the Person Specification. Closing Date: 14th July 2019 Please bear in mind that applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. St Christopher’s is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community as well as applications from candidates with care experience or experience of being a care leaver. Full details and apply here  Location: Head Office Contract Type: Permanent Closing Date: 23 July 2019 Salary: £45,000 - £50,000 depending on experience Specific Hours: 37.5 St Christopher's is a leading charity for children and young people and we are proud of our history for providing fostering, children's homes and a range of innovative leaving care services across the UK & Isle of Man.
We currently have an exciting opportunity for a Company Secretary ideally from a charity or non for profit background to join our administrative and governance team working closely with the Chief Executive Officer to contribute and help create an inspiring place to work by ensuring regulatory requirements are met and to manage the delivery of Council business for St Christopher's and its subsidiaries. Compliance responsibilities for data protection and quality assurance. Additionally the post holder will manage a small team responsible for providing a professional, customer focussed and cost effective data management, reception, administration and secretarial services at Head Office. The ideal candidate
The role will appeal to a creative self- starter with positive high energy levels, enthusiasm and a real can do attitude, looking for greater autonomy and a sense of ownership. If you’re ready for the challenge and think you have the skills to drive St Christopher’s forward we would love to hear from you. Key aspects of the job will be
In return we offer
Recruitment Process At St Christopher’s we are committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people in our care. During the recruitment process you will be expected to complete an online application form to ensure we capture essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements. Applicants will ideally already be on the DBS Update Service; if this is not the case St Christopher's will carry out a DBS (police) check prior to starting. To be considered, your on-line application must include a full supporting statement addressing the criteria stated above. For the full Job Description for this role and more detail about what will be required, please click here. If you require any further information, please contact us on 0208 780 7800 or send an email to recruitment@stchris.org.uk Closing Date: 23rd July 2019 Please bear in mind that applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. St Christopher’s is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community as well as applications from candidates with care experience or experience of being a care leaver. Source: https://isw.changeworknow.co.uk  For Foster Care Fortnight 2019, St Christopher’s wants to celebrate the amazing foster families who transform the lives of children every single day. Sharon is just one of these foster carers – here she tells her story of fostering three sisters. Hello, I’m Sharon I have been asked to talk about my experience of therapeutic parenting as a foster carer. My parents were foster carers when I was younger and my mum looked after 65 children in total before she retired, so I wanted to give it a go too. A few years ago three girls came to move in with me. At first they was so much sibling rivalry and jealousy, but at the same time they were scared to be separated. They also showed signs of hyper-vigilance, which is when you are constantly looking around you to check for danger that is reminiscent of something you have experienced before.  We knew they had experienced trauma, neglect and abuse before they came into care, which is why they were behaving in these ways. They had spent three years living apart with other foster families and had only been reunited for one year before they moved in with us, so they had to get used to being together again.
Initially we couldn’t leave the children alone together because they would start fighting, so we worked with St Christopher’s therapeutic specialist to see what techniques we could introduce. This support was really helpful and made a huge difference. We started putting firm boundaries and routines in place, like set bedtimes and each girl having the same specific colour for their cup or lunchbox so there can be no jealousy. We also noticed that if we praise the girls for something, like a drawing, they would destroy it because they did not think they deserve nice treats or items. So now we don’t overreact, overpraise or oversympathise, but we always tell them that they have good hearts. Since we started with therapeutic parenting, the girls are more settled and calm. They fight less and have become more confident, as well as thinking about the consequences of their actions. But we are all on a journey so we still have a fair way to go. And my mom made it all look so easy! Could you change a child’s life like Sharon? Get in touch with St Christopher’s today to speak to a member of our fostering team. Source: www.stchris.org.uk  Putney SW15, flexible working options £40,000 - £45,000 pa depending on experience 37.5 hours per week - occasional evening and weekend work may be required About Us
St Christopher's is a leading charity for children and young people. Our vision is for every child and young person to be safe, loved and happy, to achieve their potential and have a bright future. We do this by providing children’s homes, fostering, homes for care leavers and specialist support services, all designed for young people in care, on the edge of care, or leaving care. We support them to make positive relationships which give them the confidence to succeed. We are looking for an experienced Head of Fundraising and Communications, in order to grow the fundraising department at St Christopher’s. We have big ambitions in our organisational strategy to provide brighter futures for double the number of young people by 2023 and fundraising will play a big part in helping us to achieve this. In 2020 we will be celebrating our 150th birthday and we are planning our fundraising appeal, as well as lots of exciting activities to celebrate our proud legacy, raise our profile and expand our donor base. We are a strengths-based charity and seek to promote the brilliant achievements our young people make to show donors how their investment and support contributes towards this success. About The Role As Head of Fundraising and Communications, you will be responsible for the development and growth of the fundraising and communications team, in order to bring in restricted and unrestricted income for St Christopher’s, in line with budgeted expectations. The department’s activities will include targeted applications to grant making trusts and foundations, developing the donor base and the development of corporate fundraising. The successful candidate will have:
This is an exciting opportunity to step up into a challenging and strategic role. It will appeal to a self-starter, with the drive and creativity to make a role their own, as well as an interest in the strategic side of fundraising and being part of a developing and growing team. If you’re ready for the challenge and think you have the skills and passion to drive St Christopher’s forward, then we would love to hear from you. Recruitment Process At St Christopher’s we are committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people in our care. During the recruitment process you will be expected to complete an online application form to ensure we capture essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements. To be considered, your on-line application must include a full supporting statement addressing the criteria stated above. For the full Job Description for this role and more detail about what will be required, please click here. If you require any further information, please contact us on 0208 780 7800. Closing Date: 27th May 2019 We advise to apply as soon as possible as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and this opportunity might be filled before the stated closing date. St Christopher’s is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Full details and application documents here  Location: Head Office Contract Type: Permanent Closing Date: 28 May 2019 Salary: £40,000- £45,000 Specific Hours: 37.5 St Christopher's is a leading charity for children and young people and we are proud of our history for providing fostering, children's homes and a range of innovative leaving care services across the UK & Isle of Man.
We currently have an exciting opportunity for a Company Secretary ideally from a charity or not for profit background to join our administrative and governance team working closely with the Chief Executive Officer to contribute and help create an inspiring place to work by ensuring regulatory requirements are met and to manage the delivery of Council business for St Christopher's and its subsidiaries. Compliance responsibilities for data protection, health and safety and quality assurance. Additionally the post holder will manage a small team responsible for providing a professional, customer focused and cost effective data management, reception, administration and secretarial services at Head Office. The ideal candidate:
Key aspects of the job will be:
The role will appeal to a creative self- starter with positive high energy levels, enthusiasm and a real can do attitude, looking for greater autonomy and a sense of ownership. If you’re ready for the challenge and think you have the skills to drive St Christopher’s forward we would love to hear from you. For the full Job Description for this role and more detail about what will be required, please click here. To be considered, your on-line application must include a full supporting statement addressing the criteria given in the Person Specification. If you require any further information, please contact us on 0208 780 7800. Closing Date: 28th May 2019 (Please bear in mind that applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. This post is subject to a DBS check) St Christopher’s is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Full details and application documents here.  Care leavers have to juggle lots of adult responsibilities at a very young age, often without support from their family. They may have missed out on key chunks of schooling, so do not always have the qualifications or confidence to aspire to bright futures.
St Christopher’s Aftercare team on the Isle of Man support care leavers to find safe homes, catch up on their education and look for jobs. Zoe is just one of the young people they have helped. Zoe’s story Zoe was struggling to make ends meet on her zero hours contract at a pub, where she also rented a room at a discounted rate. She had no stability because of her employment situation, so she was unable to plan for the future. She tried to find work elsewhere but didn’t have the GCSE grades to apply for the types of jobs she wanted, and there was no way she could afford to support herself through additional education at this stage. To earn some extra money on the side, Zoe started working at a pizza shop. But she was then let go from the pub as there were not enough shifts to go around, which meant she had to find a new place to live too. Zoe reluctantly signed on to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance and was forced to accept food bank support, which was desperately upsetting for her. The job at the pizza shop ended and she still was not able to cover living costs in her new flat. That’s when Zoe contacted Aftercare to see if they could help with her job search. The team helped to re-write her CV, research the role and practice for online tests that were part of the application for a job at a bank – and she secured an interview! To dispel Zoe’s nerves about the interview, the team spent weeks practising typical questions and doing mock interviews until she felt confident enough for the big day. Then a week later, she received a call to say they wanted to hire her. The bank manager said they normally would not offer interviews to someone without the required qualifications, but Zoe had good test scores and impressive work experience on her CV so they wanted to give her a chance. They were really impressed with her interview and, even though she was nervous, she came across as mature and confident, and answering all their questions with fluidity and good examples. Without help from Aftercare, Zoe may have struggled to secure regular employment and could have ended up in debt or homeless. The team supported her to settle into the role and she is loving her job. The next step Through seeing how their work has positively impacted young people like Zoe, St Christopher’s is extending their work to include a new Support Into Employment service, matching care leavers with work placements and volunteering opportunities. The charity has also committed to making sure 5% of the workforce is made up of care experienced people by 2023 as part of their organisational strategy. Find out more about Support Into Employment below and please get in touch with us if you would like to create brighter futures for young people on the Isle of Man. Source: www.stchris.org.uk  LandAid, the property industry charity, is one of St Christopher’s supporters. They funded the refurbishment of our Staying Close home in Ealing. And, thanks to their funding, we’ve been able to install a new kitchen at one of our homes for young people leaving care.
Paul Morrish, LandAid’s Chief Executive, tells us a bit about why LandAid chose to support St Christopher’s. “LandAid gives out over £2m every year in grants. We fund remarkable charities who provide support and accommodation for young people who have been homeless, or are at risk of homelessness. Most of our grants go directly to providing homes for young people, and we’re always on the look-out for new and exciting models to support young people. “St Christopher’s particularly appealed to LandAid due to its innovative approaches to tackling and preventing youth homelessness, like the Staying Close project. It’s evidence-based and helps young people leaving care and going into the ‘real world’ without leaving them to it, which can be a scary and unhelpful experience. We were drawn to their commitment to stay with young people through their period of transition into independent living and beyond. “Staying Close works by giving young care leavers a stable home and tailored support. The model provides accommodation with step-down support for young people leaving their children’s home. This gives them the opportunity to go back and visit if they need help – just like we did when we left home. “We hope that the projects we’ve funded and St Christopher’s Staying Close model will continue to prepare young people for the positive lives which lie ahead of them. We have enjoyed working with St Christopher’s on a number of grants already, and we hope to be able to continue to fund their innovative projects, and to keep seeing the excellent results which has made our partnership with them so rewarding.” Source: www.stchris.org.uk  St Christopher’s has given evidence to an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) enquiry into financial education for young people in care so that MPs and organisations can work together to introduce better support.
Chief Executive Jonathan Whalley was invited to give evidence directly to the MPs involved in the APPG about how to make sure care leavers had opportunities to learn how to budget, manage their money and a safe space to trial new things. At St Christopher’s we are committed to raising aspirations for care leavers and offering lifelong learning and thriving, instead of leaving young people to go it alone once they reach a certain age. Through our Staying Close pilot, young people have opportunities to go back to their children’s homes so that they can stay in touch with the people they care about the most. This commitment was central to the evidence we provided, as we know from our young people that having just one key person who is on your side can make all the difference. In answer to MPs questions Jonathan explained how leaving care was a process rather than a single event in a child’s life. He explained how starting transitions work sooner would provide care leavers with a better foundation for adulthood, which includes learning about budgeting and money management. He also explained how mental health issues can impact on young people’s ability to cope with living independently at such a young age. This led onto a discussion about corporate parenting responsibilities, where providers and local authorities commit to providing children in care and care leavers with the same love, support and nurturing as any other young person. Jonathan also shared examples of current best practice for financial education in our services. For example, one care leaver on the Isle of Man had racked up £150 in bank fees from being only a few pounds overdrawn. He did not have the confidence to speak up for himself and ask the bank to waive these, so a member of the Aftercare team advocated on his behalf. Without this support from a person he trusted, this young person would have spiralled into debt and homelessness, showing just how important relationships are to care leavers. We know that it is important to give young people in our care a safe environment for them to try new things and make mistakes. In our homes, this happens through daily practice as well as our life skills work. If all children in care were given this space and trust, it would allow them to develop their own risk competencies and give them practical experience to draw on when they faced challenges in adulthood. The event gave us the chance to educate MPs on what life is like for children in care and care leavers, as well as fight to get them the right support. We are looking forward to reading their recommendations in the coming months. Source: www.stchris.org.uk |
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