Adoption social worker jobs in hampshire, south east
Job Title: Family Support Worker (12 months FTC)
Salary: £30,944 - £31,004 per annum
Team: Family Support Team
Hours: 37.5 hours per annum
Location: Christopher’s
About Shooting Star Children’s Hospices
We have an exciting opportunity for a family support to join our Family Support Team at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices provides specialist care and support to families who have a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition, or whose child has died. Rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, we support families across Surrey, north-west London and south-west London from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, emotional and medical care.
About the role
Family Support Workers (FSW) are the frontline of our psychosocial care. Each FSW holds a caseload of end-of-life and bereaved families. They get to know their families, and check-in regularly with phone calls and home visits and can provide enhanced emotional support where required through more regular contact and interventions. Our FSWs inform families about the different psychosocial care and many services they can access at Shooting Star, assess their needs and make recommendations to our specialist psychosocial MDT. They work hard to support families of different ethnicities and families living in poverty, so that our service is as equitable as possible.
Our FSWs work closely with our Therapists, Counsellors, Social Workers, Transition Team and our Care Events Team. Weekly specialist psychosocial MDT meetings bring the team together to think of ways to help families in crisis. The work is varied and creative, taking place at the hospices, in family homes and hospitals, allowing the support to be where the families need it. Our Family Support Workers are hugely appreciated by the families we support.
The ambition of our strategy is to ensure every family affected by a life-limiting condition, or the sudden death of a child, has access to the specialist care that they need. Day to day duties are:
- Being part of the duty rota over both sites monitoring 3 email inboxes and answering the Family Support Line.
- Supporting the events team with admin tasks and attending various events
- Providing on the spot emotional support, sometimes in a crisis where a calm and empathic response is required.
- Support the in-house team with families staying at Christopher’s for assessed nights and end of life care.
- Attend various sites over the course of a week, hospice, hospital, family homes. Planning your own diary effectively.
- Building connections with families from different backgrounds, delivering culturally competent care.
- Acting as an ambassador for Shooting Star’s Specialist Bereavement Service, supporting other care team members with their learning and delivery of the bereavement pathway, and continually seeking ways to improve quality.
About you
This role requires experience of working with children and families who have experienced hardship, presenting with complex needs. You should have a calm positive manner, be consistent in your approach, and convey empathy whilst maintaining professional boundaries.
Please see the attached job description for more information about this opportunity at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.
What we offer
In return you will receive a competitive salary along with a range of benefits, which include:
Pension scheme
- NHS Pension Scheme (for eligible employees) or our stakeholder pension scheme, with up to 7% employer contributions
Annual leave
- 27 days plus Bank Holidays rising with length of service
- 2 weeks paid sabbatical leave after 5, 10 and 15 years’ service
Contractual benefits
- Generous sick pay scheme
- Enhanced maternity, adoption, and paternity leave pay
- Flexible working arrangements
- Death in service benefits
- Reimbursed professional membership fees
- Eye care
- Employee referral scheme
- Blue Light discount card
Health and wellbeing
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Occupational Health
- Mindfulness sessions
- Cycle to work scheme
- Mental Health First Aiders
- Nutritionally balanced meals at Christopher’s (free for employees) and free fruit at our Hampton site
Safeguarding
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all our staff to share this commitment. Also, we are committed to equal opportunities and consider all applicants to be in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Employment is subject to receipt of satisfactory references and an ehanced DBS check.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
Shooting Star Children’s Hospice is committed to inclusion and diversity in everything we do. We know that getting things right is critical for us to live our organisation’s values: Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diversity and Excellence.
We are always trying to improve our way of working to be more inclusive and equal. Our vision is for Shooting Star Children’s Hospice to be a place where people of all backgrounds, groups and communities feel welcomed to work and volunteer.
Closing Date: 15/05/2025
Interview Date: TBC
Registered Charity 
101 - 500
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Strategic Volunteer Lead
We are seeking someone brilliant to be our Strategic Volunteer Lead and work collaboratively to support Youth Zones with their volunteering strategies, recognising and rewarding the huge benefits a volunteer workforce brings.
The organisation is an equal opportunities’ employer and welcomes applications from under-represented groups; in particular from Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse individuals, people with disabilities, and members of LGBTQ+ communities. The dedicated Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Group, with support from the Senior Leadership Team, is actively promoting and advancing diversity and inclusion, ensuring a culture where everyone can be themselves and thrive.
Position: Strategic Volunteer Lead
Location: Home-based with travel (across North-West England & London) (home location within reasonable commutable distance of Youth Zones in North-West or London). Bolton and London offices can also be used as a working base, if preferred.
Salary: £32,500 to £37,000 0.8 FTE (dependent upon experience)
Contract: 18-month Fixed Term contract
Hours: Part-time, 30 hours per week (Hours can be worked flexibly – working pattern to be agreed at point of role offer)
Benefits: Agile working with flexibility in working hours; 25 days annual leave (calculated pro-rata) rising to a maximum of 30 days; birthday leave, additional annual leave purchase scheme; company matched pension; company sick, maternity, paternity & adoption pay; Employee Assistance Programme, active and engaged networks to join (including Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) and access to Charity Worker discounts.
Closing Date: 12noon Wednesday 14 May
First stage interviews (virtual): Friday 23 May 2025
Second stage interviews (in-person in Wigan): Tuesday 3 June 2025
There will also be a short, values-based phone interview between Stage 1 and 2.
About the Role
As a pioneering and growing Network of youth charities, it is paramount we have clear and robust volunteer strategies, maximising the value of volunteers.
You will promote a positive culture of volunteering across the Network, working collaboratively with Youth Zone senior leadership teams. This will include support and delivery of workshops, proactively focusing discussions to result in strategic commitment to volunteering. You will also support the Youth Zone Network with general volunteering advice and guidance, promoting best practice so our volunteers shine in their roles.
About You
You will have experience of volunteer recruitment and management, implementing volunteering strategies and thrive on working collaboratively. And you will be excited to work for an innovative, young person-centred organisation.
To apply, please submit a CV and cover letter (of not more than two pages), explaining clearly why you are interested in the role, and answering as many points as you can from the role profile. We’d also love to hear about your transferrable skills.
About the Organisation
A national charity that believes all young people should have the opportunity to discover their passion and their purpose that fund and build state-of-the-art, multimillion-pound youth centres called Youth Zones in the country’s most economically disadvantaged areas. We train the amazing people that run them and offer continuing support to Youth Zones nationwide through a national network of independent youth charities.
You are actively encouraged to submit anonymous applications; in practice this means removing your name and email address from your CV and cover letter. The HR Lead will have these details from your submission, but they will not be available to the selection panel when they are considering your application.
The charity is committed to the safeguarding of young people. In accordance with its Child Protection and Safeguarding procedures, this position requires a basic DBS check.
Other roles you may have experience of could include Volunteer Engagement, Volunteer Recruitment, Volunteer Manager, Volunteer Coordinator, Volunteer Engagement Lead, Volunteer Recruitment Lead. #INDNFP
PLEASE NOTE: This role is being advertised by NFP People on behalf of the organisation
