Missing and Exploitation Project Worker

Barnardo's have provided exploitation services in Bristol for over 25 years are at the start of an exciting new 5 year partnership with Bristol City Council to deliver return home interviews to young people who have been missing and one to one and group work to those experiencing sexual and/or criminal exploitation.

This post primarily focusses on the missing aspect of this contract, arranging and undertaken missing return conversations with young people under the age of 18 who have been missing. Missing return conversations aim to assess risks to and wants and needs of young people, and to create safety plans with them to promote their safety and reduce further missing episodes.

This post forms part of a team of PW2s undertaking missing and exploitation work. In this role you will be expected to:

Provide an energetic and creative approach to establishing contact with young people
To meet young people in their community
Build good rapport with marginalised young people which enables an effective return home interview, often in a single visit

- To complete a return home within 72 hours of young people returning from missing and create a individual package of care in partnership with external agencies to address identified risks
- Creating safety plans in partnership with young people that aim to reduce risks
- Working in partnership with key partner agencies including Avon and Somerset Police and Children and Young People's Services in order to safeguard young people from further harm
- Liaising closely and referring into other key partner agencies such as education, health, criminal justice system etc
- Have sound knowledge and understanding of safeguarding issues in relation to working with vulnerable young people experiencing extra familial harm and experience of working within child protection frameworks
- To have good assessment skills
- To keep accurate, up to date records
- To have experience of working directly with children and young people in a trauma informed way
- Experience and knowledge of working with children and young people impacted by exploitation
To have knowledge and understanding of factors that lead to young people going missing and the impact that these have
- Ability to recognise and respond to equality and diversity needs of service users and their families
- To be flexible, while the main focus of this role will be to undertake return home interviews, there is a often a requirement to work across the service which will include one to one work with young people experiencing exploitation

The office base is in the centre of Bristol however this role requires community work across the city primarily in service user's homes and schools. There is the opportunity for some home working however, Project Workers are encouraged to use the office to enable peer learning and support and facilitate a drop in service for young people.

The majority of work will occur during normal working hours (9am-5pm) however due to the nature of working with young people, you will be required to work flexibly to meet the needs of the service which may occasionally include working outside of these hours.

The post holder will deliver outreach based support which will work flexibly to meet young people in settings that they feel comfortable. The role is Bristol wide and so have a driving license and access to a car would be desirable.

You will have received a Project Worker 2 job description and person specification. This is a generic role in use throughout the organisation. When completing your application form, please refer to the skills, knowledge and experience required as detailed in the Person Specification. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

Although this contract has a permanent status, please be aware that this post is subject to funding currently to 31 March 2029 and therefore should this funding not be extended further, you may be subject to a redundancy consultation or a TUPE arrangement.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.
Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.