Waking Night Residential Childcare Officer

1. Do you want to work in a meaningful role supporting children to meet their individual needs and overcome challenges helping them to live full and happy lives?
2. As a Waking Nights Officer, you will play an essential part in providing direct care and effective support to young people to enable them to achieve positive outcomes in line with their childcare personal plan.
3. We welcome applications in both English and Welsh. Applications received in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than English applications.

Job Purpose:

Under the guidance of the Manager, Deputy Manager and Senior Residential Childcare Officer as an individual and as a member of a team, performing duties concerned with the direct care of young people between the ages of 6 - 18 in a Respite Children’s Home. All duties to be performed within the framework of Regulations, Statutory legislation, Council’s Policy, Procedures and Good Practice Guidelines applicable to the post.

To assist the Registered Manager, Deputy Manager and Senior Residential Childcare Officers in ensuring that the home meets the standards and expectations of its Statement of Purpose (SoP) at all times.

To ensure that the children and young people staying at the home receive the appropriate support to enable them to achieve positive and agreed goals in their personal plans.

To safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people by fulfilling all duties and responsibilities required by the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014, Registration and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 and adhere to The Wales Safeguarding Procedures.

Duties and Responsibilities

To meet the needs of young people through:

• Ensuring that young people receive a sensitive service, which best meets their social, racial, psychological, educational, cultural, physical identity and health and wellbeing needs.
• Ensuring that young people are supported, reassured and have their needs met throughout the night.
• Ensuring that each young person has a personal plan that reflects their assessed needs and goals and objectives of the placement.
• To ensure children and young peoples health and wellbeing needs are met including safe care practices and administration and disposal of medication. 
• Supporting children and young people who stay to ensure any personal care needs are met.
• Ensuring that young people are empowered to have a voice when making decisions about their lives and supporting them to meet their goals.
• Working with the team to enable and empower children and young people to participate in various meetings.
• Creating and maintaining good relationships with young people to ensure they are fully aware of their rights. 
• Ensuring that good relationships with all young peoples’ families and significant others are developed and maintained ensuring consultation and participation.
• Maximising the use of the community facilities for the benefit of young people, developing and maintaining relationships with the local community.
• Assuming key worker responsibilities in relation to specified children. This will involve the implementation, monitoring, and recording of Personal Plans.
• To make positive links other professionals. 

To promote the efficient and effective operation of the Home through:

• Being familiar with and capable of administering the Home in the absence of more senior staff in accordance with the Council policies and in accordance with all relevant legislation, procedures and good practice guidelines.  To comply with the Council and Social Care Wales Codes of Conduct.
• Ensuring that Fire Regulations and Health and Safety Regulations are met, appropriate records are kept and all procedures are adhered to in accordance with relevant legislation and Councils policies and procedures.
• Produce and maintain accurate records relating to individual young people, home systems, monitoring, management information etc., ensuring the maintenance of appropriate levels of confidentiality and using relevant data bases.
• Maintain systems for evaluating the effectiveness of any changes.
• Participation in all administrative tasks necessary for the effective running of the home within the council’s policy and procedures.
• Taking responsibility at the direction of the Manager, Deputy and Senior Residential Childcare Officers for ensuring that use of finances is properly monitored, and recorded.
• To arrange and attend and chair meetings as required and ensure that meetings are conducted in a manner which promotes inclusion and achievement of goals.
• Taking responsibility at the direction of the Registered Manager, Deputy Manager and Senior to ensure the performance management framework using Results Based Accountability methodology (RBA) complies with the regulatory requirement to produce a Quality of Care Report. 
• Taking responsibility to promote and support staff to ensure the Signs of Safety and Restorative Approaches models are embedded in everyday practice. 
• Taking responsibility to promote and support staff to ensure the PROACT-SCIP-UK behaviour support model is promoted and embedded in everyday practice.
• Providing a caring and supportive environment which will involve routine household cleaning, maintenance and preparation of meals.

Personal Development

• To fully participate in professional staff supervision and Personal Performance and Development Review.
• To participate in the departmental induction process and in any training identified to meet individual development needs. 
• To contribute to team meetings, service development days and training as appropriate.
• To accept responsibility for developing own knowledge and skills.
• To have knowledge of the statutory and procedural framework of residential services. 
• To be computer literate and operate the Council’s IT programmes and management databases. 

Corporate Requirements

• To participate actively in supporting the principles and practice of equality of opportunity as stated in the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy.
• To take reasonable care for the health and safety of yourself and other persons who may be affected by your acts or omissions and to comply with all health and safety legislation as appropriate. 
• To, as a statutory duty, adhere to the Council’s Corporate Safeguarding Policy and associated policies and procedures and to report concerns regarding the safety and wellbeing of children or adults at risk. In order to support you in this, you are required to access safeguarding training at the level which is relevant to this post. 
• As a term of your employment you may be required to undertake such other duties and/or times of work as may reasonably be required of you, commensurate with your grade or general level of responsibility within the organisation.  
• Although you will be provided with a base, you will be required to work from various locations in accordance with the needs of the role.