The Child and Family Agency was established on 1^st January 2014 and is responsible for a range of statutory functions including provision of child protection, alternative care, specified regulatory services and a range of family support services.  The Agency has commenced a major improvement programme with significant focus on Practice, Culture and Structure.

The Agency currently has responsibility for a budget of circa €1.2billion and delivers its services through over 5,500 people in 259 locations across the Country.

The Child and Family Agency has responsibility for the following range of services:

• Child Protection and Welfare
• Parenting, Family Support and Early Help Services
• Alternative Care
• Birth Information & Tracing and Adoption
• Tusla Education Support Services (TESS)
• Children’s Service Regulation
• Counselling and Therapeutic Supports

Further information is available on www.tusla.ie

Purpose of the Role:

• To lead and govern a dedicated Family Support (FS) team delivering direct casework with children and families. This includes screening, short-term work (Integrated Front Door) and long-term work (LIT), ensuring robust case allocation, case management, and integration with child protection and children in care teams while maintaining Family Support governance over relevant aspects of care plans.
• The LIT boundaries have been aligned to the Child and Family Support Network boundaries and connections to the network members is part of ongoing work with all the IFD and LIT teams
• Prevention & Early Intervention remains an integral part of Tusla Family Support approach.

The Family Support team will provide the input required to promote Early Intervention and Meitheal processes through the Child and Family Support networks

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Professional

• Govern and lead Family Support team delivering direct casework.
• Oversee case allocation, case management, and casework quality.
• Support Family Support staff working with children where the lead worker is on CP or CIC teams.
• Maintain Family Support governance on care plan elements (e.g., family support, reunification, parenting capacity).
• Ensure integration with team leads for CPW & CiC, working in close collaboration particularly on complex cases, maintaining distinct Family Support identity.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of practice standards for short-term (Integrated Front Door) and long-term (LIT) interventions.
• Provide supervision, mentoring, and support to Family Support practitioners including those team members leading Meitheals.
• Liaise with CP and CIC teams to ensure continuity and coherence in service delivery.
• Monitor outcomes and contribute to service planning and evaluation.

Management

• Provide leadership and motivation in order to optimise service delivery by developing teams and promoting change management.
• Be responsible for the probationary appraisal of staff and the completion of probationary appraisal reports as required. Make appropriate recommendations regarding whether employees’ standard of work during probation is satisfactory and whether appointments should be confirmed.
• Ensure compliance with and implement HR policies and procedures and guidelines.
• Manage a budget as defined by the Area Manager / Principal Social Worker, if appropriate.
• Contribute to a range of reports including annual reports, performance indicators etc. as required.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of policy, information sharing protocols, audit systems and referral and integrated care pathways.
• Contribute to service plan process by recognising and replicating successful interventions and by identifying unmet needs and service requirements into the future.
• Ensure a high standard of documentation, including service user files in accordance with local guidelines and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
• Ensure the maintenance of service user and data confidentiality.
• Represent the agency at various groups as required.

Education & Training

• Maintain standards of practice and levels of professional knowledge by monitoring and reviewing the standards within their area of responsibility, participating in and organising continuous professional development initiatives and professional development planning.
• Keep updated on current and impending legislation and the perceived impact on practice.
• Keep abreast of developments in national policies and strategies and international best practice.
• Keep up to date with organisational developments within the Irish Health and Social Services.
• Actively engage in staff development and training by making recommendations with regard to the ongoing education, mentoring, training and in-service needs of social workers

Health & Safety

• Comply with and contribute to the development of policies, procedures, guidelines and safe professional practice and adhere to relevant legislation, regulations and standards.
• Have a working knowledge of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) Standards as they apply to the service for example National Standards for Child Protection and Care and comply with associated Tusla – Child and Family Agency protocols for implementing and maintaining these standards as appropriate to the role.
• To support, promote and actively participate in sustainable energy, water and waste initiatives to create a more sustainable, low carbon and efficient health service.

The above Job Description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to him/her from time to time and to contribute to the development of the post while in office.

Applicants must by the closing date of application have the following:

• Must be in employment within Tusla Child and Family Agency.
• Be currently employed and located within one of the following Regional Networks and have been recently mapped to a region and/or network within the Dublin North-East Region

Region: Dublin North-East

Regional Network: Dublin North City OR Dublin North-West OR Meath OR North County Dublin OR North Dublin

Please check the following link to identify which Regional Network your current employment location falls under: Find My Network

AND

• A 3rd level qualification minimum of QQI level 7, relevant to the requirements of the role in community work, family support, social care, social work, education or other relevant discipline; and six years relevant post qualification experience in direct child and family casework.

OR

• A 3rd level qualification minimum of QQI level 8, relevant to the requirements of the role in community work, family support, social care, social work, education or other relevant discipline; and three years relevant post qualification experience in direct child and family casework.

AND

• Experience in case management and inter-team collaboration.

AND

• Must have the requisite  knowledge and ability (including a high standard of suitability, professional  and managerial ability) for the proper discharge of the duties of the office

Desirable

• Specific experience working in the area of PEI (Prevention & Early Intervention) as well as Family Support, is also desirable.

Health

A candidate for and any person holding the office must be fully competent and capable of undertaking the duties attached to the office and be in a state of health such as would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service.

Character

Each candidate for and any person holding the office must be of good character.