Family Court Adviser

Job title: Family Court Adviser (Social Worker - Public Law and Private Law)

This is an exciting time to join Cafcass. We are an outstanding provider of social work services to children and young people nationally.

We are looking for Family Court Advisors to join our dynamic and supportive South West Teams covering Cornwall, Devon and Somerset to work with Children and Families experiencing Public or Private Law proceedings.

Dedicated. Supportive. Unique. Join an organisation that’s just like you.

Here at Cafcass we support over 140,000 children and their families every year, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of each and every child and ensuring their voice is heard in Family Proceedings, which we’ll sure you agree is very important work.

Let’s make a difference. Together.

Whether you’re one of our Social Workers or work in our Corporate or Business Services teams, everyone here as a critical role to play. And so, if you join us as Family Court Adviser in our teams covering Cornwall, Devon and Somerset you’ll see further references to ‘Together’ as this is the name of our new relationship-based practice framework.

Built around our values, it is at the heart of the work we do and encourages us to be pro-active and to look for the strengths in ourselves and others, to build positive relationships with our colleagues, our partners and with the children and families that we work with.

If this is the type of culture you think you can thrive in and you are motivated by making a difference for children and families, then read on.

Benefits that really benefit you.
Before we tell you more about the role, let us talk about some of the benefits of joining the largest employer of Social Workers in England as few organisations understand the professional and personal challenges as well as we do.

We know you want to be rewarded appropriately, you want time away from work to manage your wellbeing, spend time with those important to you, help to secure your future and be trusted to work autonomously.

We are pleased to offer new joiners in this region a ‘Golden Hello’ package of £4k, which will consist of two equal payments, the first when you commence and the second 12 months later.

This is in addition to a competitive salary, an excellent holiday allowance (28 days + Bank Holidays), a Local Government pension with 19.4% employer contribution, Health and Wellbeing cash plan, and the potential to bring your continuous service with you - which could mean you have 33 days holiday from day one. There are also a range of other benefits that collectively makes for a great package with a highly supportive, caring employer.

Location, location, location

Whilst the offices for our teams covering Cornwall, Devon and Somerset are in Plymouth and Exeter, as you might imagine, especially in such a large geographical area, your proximity to the offices is not essential.

Long before the pandemic, our teams have been used to working remotely and we achieve this through providing the right equipment (touch screen laptop and iPhone) and creating a culture of trust, flexibility and autonomy that enables you to manage your time so you can be where you need to be to perform effectively and achieve a healthy balance between your professional and personal life.

Therefore, for the teams we are recruiting for in the South-West, it might be helpful if you are can travel to places including Truro, Taunton, Plymouth or Exeter. Don’t worry, every effort will be made to ensure your caseload suits you geographically to avoid you having to cover too large an area and for some of our teams, there is a limited requirement to travel on a regular basis anyway.

More information about the area and the management team can be viewed when you click through.

It takes someone special to be a Family Court Adviser

Being a Family Court Adviser is very rewarding – but it’s not for everyone. You must be a Social Work England registered social worker who’s organised, resilient and able to work independently. Confident in your abilities, you’ve worked with children and families for at least three years. Now you’re ready to take decisions and speak up in court as part of our talented Cafcass team.

Ready to find out more being a Family Court Adviser?

We have opportunities across our teams, so for example, you might be especially interested in joining our Public Law team which means you will tell the court about the child’s journey and experiences and explain their wishes and feelings, while also carrying out independent enquiries, scrutinising the work of the Local Authority and representing the child in court, alongside their appointed solicitor.

Alternatively, you might prefer to work in Private Law where Family Court Advisers are involved where families require the assistance of the court to agree on the best child arrangements for the child(ren) involved. Family Court Advisers are typically involved with children for a period of assessment for the court, undertaking direct work with children, gaining their views and wishes and representing these to the court via written reports and giving evidence and advocating for arrangements that are in their best interests. This will draw on robust risk assessment and mediation skills.

We understand that you may want to find out more about how difference between Public and Private Law, or perhaps find out more about some of the things that we have mentioned above, which might help you decide if Cafcass is right for you professionally and personally.

With this in mind, we plan to host an online event on 17th January 2022 at 5:30pm when you will have the chance to meet some of the team, including people who have joined us quite recently, to find out much more and ask any questions you might have. You can register some basic details to join the event when you click through without having to formally submit an application.

If you cannot attend the event and/or there are questions that you would like to ask on a 1-2-1 basis, details of relevant Service Managers you can contact are available when you click through and you send them an email with your contact details and best times to contact you.

We represent children and families from diverse backgrounds. We want our staff to mirror this.

We particularly welcome applications from individuals from diverse backgrounds as we strive to ensure our workforce reflects the diversity of the children and families we work with. We are also a Disability Confident Employer which further underlines our commitment to employ, train, retain and develop the careers of colleagues with disabilities.

Timelines we’re working to

If you apply, rest assured that we will review your application promptly and endeavour to let you know if we’d like to have an initial interview with you as soon as we can. And if that goes well for both you and us then we’ll look to progress you to a final interview on a date and time to suit everyone.

We look forward to hearing from you. Please visit our website to find out more and apply.