Adoption Support Worker Jobs in Birmingham
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This is an opportunity to join Refuge as Childrens support worker to provide high quality practical and emotional support to survivors of domestic violence and their children living in our refuges.
The job involves working closely with children and their mothers who are living in our refuges escaping domestic violence and other forms of violence and abuse. A key requirement is to provide personal one to one and group support to children and young people to ensure they are provided with a safe, supportive, and welcoming environment.The post holder will support children who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence and plan and provide stimulating, safe, and appropriate activities.
This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.
101 - 500
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Contract: Permanent, part time
Salary: £18,963 - £22,050 per annum (£27,089 - £31,499 FTE)
Location: Homebased within Oxfordshire or Warwickshire
Closing date: Tuesday 24 September 2024
Interview dates: 1 & 3 October 2024
The Regional Adoptions Facilitator will be instrumental in streamlining our adoption services to maximise the number of horses we can help by 2026!
More about the role
As Regional Adoption Facilitator, you'll collaborate with centre-based Adoptions Coordinators to swiftly execute the Blue Cross strategy, focusing on efficient horse adoption services, including home direct placements. You'll oversee the post-adoption process in your region, ensuring smooth ownership transfers after successful loan periods to expedite horse rehoming and optimize space for new cases.
Each day you will be conducting thorough home checks and visits—both in-person and virtually—for borrowers to uphold welfare standards and address any issues promptly. Collaborating with the Rehabilitation, Trainer, and Behaviour Advisor (RTBA), you'll manage challenging horse behaviours to support successful home placements. You'll also facilitate home direct rehoming initiatives, making critical decisions to match horses with suitable owners based on your expertise and ensuring ongoing support post-adoption.
To expand our impact, you'll recruit and manage a network of volunteers, including a regional volunteer manager, for home direct assessments and checks. This includes coordinating visits and appointments, fostering partnerships with external charities aligned with our home direct efforts.
Providing excellent client experiences is essential, ensuring every interaction covers all necessary information for successful matching and adopting horses into loving homes.
This is a home-based post with extensive travel. The nature of the post will require the coordinator to demonstrate considerable flexibility in arranging their work schedule and time allocation. This will include some weekend and evening work. Due to the nature of the charity’s work, it may be necessary to exceed these hours when the workload demands. The Regional Adoptions Facilitator will be required to use their own car in carrying out their duties and will be reimbursed for business mileage as appropriate.
This is a part-time role working 26.25 hours over four days per week on a rota which includes weekends and bank holidays. This role involves extensive travel covering areas such as Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and across to Norfolk.
For a more detailed look at the role and its requirements, please see the attached job description.
About you
As this role requires coverage across specific regions, candidates must reside in either Warwickshire or Oxfordshire. You are an excellent communicator with experience in client-facing roles within horse-related environments. Your knowledge of horse welfare and riding will ensure successful adoptions. You can quickly absorb and record information while engaging with clients and stakeholders.
Client-focused and decisive, you handle pressure well and challenge risk-averse decisions using evidence-based methods. You follow set processes, adapt to new methods, and aim to improve horse welfare by maintaining high standards in the adoption process.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills are essential. You remain professional and approachable, handling difficult situations calmly. You are open-minded, adaptable, and able to communicate effectively with customers and colleagues.
Your skills allow you to assess support levels for horses and borrowers, identifying and addressing underlying issues. You support borrowers in maintaining high welfare standards.
Trustworthy and proactive, you approach your work enthusiastically. Your problem-solving mindset helps you find solutions and prioritize decisions with attention to detail.
Resilient and emotionally intelligent, you support clients and colleagues empathetically. Motivated, flexible, and dependable, you provide exceptional service to Blue Cross horses and customers, managing your workload effectively both independently and as part of a team.
Knowledge, skills, and experience
- Demonstrable understanding and experience of matching considerations for horses and homes.
- Full driving licence with access to their own vehicle
- Minimum BHS Stage 4 or acceptable equivalent qualifications or experience
- First class knowledge and practical experience in the care and management of a range of horses and their environment, their needs and conditions
- Proven practical experience of the assessment of horses, riders and their environments
- Experience of assessing riders and analysing ridden horse behaviour
- Practical knowledge of horse behaviour and training
- Excellent communication skills with experience of building relationships and rapport with customers
- Experience of working with the general public with the proven ability to deal with people in a variety of circumstances
- Significant experience in delivering high level customer service in a fast paced and often emotional environment.
- Good IT skills and experience of using a variety of computer packages
- Excellent administration and organisational skills
- Good questioning skills with the ability to gather information and distil the important points.
- Proven decision-making ability.
- The ability to demonstrate, understanding and apply our Blue Cross values.
Although not essential, it would be great if you also had:
- Experience working with volunteers.
- Client relationship management experience.
- Understanding of safeguarding issues
How to apply
Please apply via our website and complete the online application process before the closing date on Tuesday 24 September 2024.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive an overwhelming response.
Blue Cross benefits
Our people are the most important part of delivering our purpose. If it were not for their amazing efforts and commitment, we would not be able to make the difference that we do today.
In return, Blue Cross wants to ensure we provide you with the best working environment we can. We want you to be happy working for us and will do everything we can to make sure you are.
Our generous benefits package includes:
- Full time equivalent of 38 days holiday rising to 43 with service (including Bank Holidays)
- Programmes for physical and mental wellbeing support
- Free access to GP via MetLife- 24/7 GP services, private prescriptions and more for you and your family
- Free physiotherapy advice and face to face intervention
- Health cash plan
- Unlimited access to an employee assistance programme
- Pension scheme with enhanced employer contribution
- Professional fees paid with Continuing Professional Development and personal development support.
- Life assurance
- 20% discount on Pet Plan pet insurance
- Enhanced family friendly policies
- Recognition scheme
- Annual volunteer days
- Charity worker discounts across a variety of retailers
To read more about the benefits Blue Cross has to offer, please visit the 'why work for us' page on our website.
About Blue Cross
Blue Cross is a national charity that has been helping sick, injured and homeless pets since 1897.
Every month we help thousands of pets and their people by providing veterinary care, expert behaviour advice and find homeless pets loving families. We also offer education for future generations plus pet bereavement support for those who have lost their beloved pet companion.
We love the ways that pets can make such an amazing difference to the people they live with and we offer lifelong support and advice to help that unique relationship thrive. With your support we can give back to more pets and their families who need our help.
Pets change lives. We change theirs.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion
We believe that every pet should enjoy a healthy life in a happy home, and we always seek to recruit the best people who share our values and commitment so we can continue to help and support pet owners across the UK to achieve this.
At Blue Cross, we want you to feel that you belong, without the need to hide any part of who you are.
Diversity and inclusion at Blue Cross means creating a workplace where all people, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, nation or country of origin, disability, age, and socioeconomic backgrounds are welcome, respected, supported, and have access to equal opportunities.
We are working hard to reflect the world we live in and the communities we serve at every level of our organisation. As much as we have made positive advances, we consider diversity and inclusion to be a work in progress – a continual commitment that remains a priority for all of us.
Our values
Our values define the way we do things. We use them every day to guide us, and to make sure we put people and pets at the heart of everything we do.
Compassionate: We listen, we are non-judgmental, we are kind and caring to the pets and people we encounter, and we offer support in difficult times
Courageous: We make brave decisions, embrace change, and encourage innovation, ensuring we always act with integrity – doing the right thing even when no one is looking
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
The deputy service manager will contribute to the management of the IDVA and community based services, in line with Refuge’s policies and procedures and quality management system. This involves working within a multi-agency framework consisting of the MARAC and local partnership protocols and procedures that prioritise the safety of survivors.
The post holder will provide line management and support to staff. This will include providing supervision on complex casework issues such as child protection, overseeing operational emergencies and ensuring high standards of support. Working closely with the services manager to ensure that contractual and other funding requirements are met fully and that Refuge’s high quality standards are maintained, the role may involve visiting potential sites and contributing to the establishment of new services in conjunction with the development team.
The job involves working closely with members of staff that support victims and survivors of domestic abuse using our services. As a member of the management team, the post holder will be required to participate in an out-of-hours management service.
This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.
As part of this role, you will be required to participate in an out-of-hours on call rota.
Use of a car essential to the role.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
As HR Business Partner, you will play a strategic role, acting as a partner to the senior leadership to enable us to deliver as effectively as possible to people with ME. Many of our 35 colleagues have direct experience of ME and, as an ME organisation, we work hard to ensure that we provide reasonable adjustments and support to enable them to make the valuable contributions they do. You will work closely with the Management Team to drive this work. You will need to develop a deep understanding of the organisation and our work, build strong, effective relationships with our colleagues and bring expertise to the various HR functions and strategic business support areas.
Key Duties
People & Culture Strategy
- Work with the senior leadership to deliver the People and Culture and the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Plans that enables the delivery of organisational goals
- Drive consistency of the implementation of the Plans
- Work with the senior leadership to review data, analyse trends, providing data-driven solutions/decisions to support cultural development. Use ongoing analysis to test the effectiveness of People and Culture interventions and processes within the organisation
- With senior leadership, manage talent and succession planning
Human Resource Management
- Provide first point of contact HR advice and support to colleagues and line managers, ensuring all instances are recorded appropriately
- Manage the compliant use of, and be first point of contact for, colleague queries on the HR IT System (currently BreatheHR)
- Support HR investigations and line managers with grievances, disciplinaries and other similar matters, recording meeting minutes and agreeing next steps.
- Liaise with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB; provides insurance and employment legal advice) on complex HR cases that require external input, either on behalf of or alongside relevant line manager(s)
- Oversee all HR policies and procedures, being guided by relevant internal data and industry best practice, and ensuring they are regularly reviewed
- Complete all required administrative tasks for new starters and colleagues leaving the organisation
- Processing and managing of maternity, paternity, and adoption in line with policies and best practice
- Running of monthly HR reports, to include sickness auditing and dissemination of relevant data to CEO and line managers, if required
- Scope, plan and book/deliver appropriate training across the organisation and for individual employees where necessary
- Managing the recruitment lifecycle, which is to include advertising of vacancies, screening of applicants, interview diary management, referencing and document checks, onboarding coordination
- Manage and administer all changes to contractual terms and conditions with appropriate paperwork disseminated to relevant parties
- Oversee HR support for volunteers, including Trustees and Sub-Committee Lay Members
- Oversee the organisation ‘Wellbeing Weekdays’ programme (a monthly programme to support colleague contact and wellbeing)
- Support change management processes
Business Support/Compliance
- Contract management for Employee Assistance Programme
- Contract management for IT
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.