Homestart Jobs in Barnet

Home-Start Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham (HSWKCHF) is going through an exciting time; we are an innovative team who are creative and wholly committed to giving children and families the very best start in life. We are expanding our team to meet the growing needs of our communities and reach more families in need. This is an opportunity to join our enthusiastic and supportive staff team for a 12-month post (with the possibility of extension subject to funding).

As a Family Support Co-ordinator you will join our team of compassionate, experienced Family Support Co-ordinators, working to build strong relationships with local families facing complex challenges; 

• You will work one-to-one with families to identify their needs, match them to a trained volunteer and regularly review their progress. 

• You will provide on-going support and supervision to skilled, diverse volunteers, and work hard to build and maintain links with referring partners throughout our communities, ensuring holistic support for families. 

• As needs are identified, you will work together with our team of Family Support Co-ordinators to develop and facilitate supportive groups and activities for families. 

Essential requirements:

• Experience of supporting children and families; knowledge and understanding of their needs

• Good interpersonal skills and a positive team player

• Knowledge of safeguarding and the ability to supervise befriending volunteers

• A commitment to anti-discriminatory practice

• Ability to work using your own initiative

If you share our passion for supporting families and have experience in early years, family support or community work, we would love to hear from you! 

We offer a genuinely rewarding and positive work environment with ongoing opportunities for training and development. 

To apply, please download the documents below and return your Application Form and Monitoring Form to us by Monday 27th May, 5pm. 

HSWKCHF is committed to Equality of Opportunity and Diversity. 

An appointment will be made subject to satisfactory references and an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Interviews will be held the week beginning 3rd June in our Westminster office.

Home-Start Southwark works with families who are pregnant or have children under 5. Our core work is to provide weekly support from a trained peer volunteer or worker empowering families to make changes to improve their lives. The way we support families continues to have relationships at its core – we believe, and our work proves, that the confidence and resilience gained by having someone standing alongside you offering encouragement and support, can make a huge difference to parents and children. Being a parent is difficult regardless of circumstances and many of our families are facing several additional challenges.

Our ambition is to continue to develop outstanding services that meet the needs of our community; if you want to be part of our future, we would love to meet you to discuss this further.

Main Purpose:

• Work closely with the Chief Executive to develop and evolve Home-Start’s services in response to changing needs, informing the strategy for our family support and development of services.
• Provide vision, direction, and leadership to motivate staff and volunteers to deliver high-quality services that make a measurable positive difference to children and their families.
• Manage the HSS Family Support Team, coordinating and quality assuring their work.
• Collaborate with multi-agency partners to deliver evidence-based interventions that support parenting and prevent need escalating, including structured programmes and group work.
• Be a Designated Safeguarding Lead for the charity.

Home-Start is committed to promoting the welfare of families with young children to ensure that they have the best start in life. We are recruiting a Volunteer Manager to develop a diverse team of volunteers, to support our work with families in Barnet, Brent and Harrow. As a volunteer-led organisation, the role of Volunteer Manager is central. The postholder will promote Home-Start in each of the boroughs where we work, seeking opportunities for recruitment within local communities. They will ensure that volunteers receive training, development and supervision to support the families referred us, and that high standards of practice are maintained. They will promote initiatives to increase the retention of existing volunteers and ensure that they are recognised and rewarded for their work.

The work requires a combination of field-based community engagement and training, and regular days in the office which is in Finchley, Barnet.