Heading Home Practitioner

Heading Home Practitioner In Care Service 10869 Secondment Opportunity / Temporary Fixed Term Contract for Two Years 37 hours per week 32061 to 33699 per annum Grade G County Hall Norwich

Do you believe that when it is safe to do so children should have every opportunity to return home to their families

Are you passionate about helping families make positive and lasting changes that enable children to thrive within their family network

We are looking to recruit dedicated resilient and skilled practitioners to join our newly established Reunification Team within Norfolks In Care Service.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of an innovative service focused on supporting children and young people to safely return home from care and remain living successfully with their families. Working directly with children parents and carers you will provide intensive evidence-informed and relationship-based interventions that support families to build on their strengths overcome challenges and create sustainable change.

As a Heading Home Practitioner you will work with children and families both before and after reunification. You will deliver targeted hands-on support helping parents develop their parenting capacity strengthen family relationships and understand their childrens experiences and developmental needs. You will work creatively and flexibly with families facing complex challenges including mental health difficulties disability trauma substance misuse and family breakdown.

Working alongside Social Workers and other professionals you will contribute to assessments care planning and intervention delivery with the aim of reducing risk improving family functioning and achieving stable long-term reunification outcomes. Your work will be underpinned by Norfolks Vital Signs for Children practice model embracing relationship-based strengths-focused and outcome-driven approaches.

You will have a minimum of three years experience working directly with children young people and families including experience of supporting those with complex needs. You will be confident working independently within family homes building trusted relationships and delivering interventions that create meaningful and lasting change.

You will require an NVQ Level 3 in a relevant subject (or equivalent professional experience) and have a sound understanding of child development the impact of trauma and adverse childhood experiences and the factors that influence positive outcomes for children and young people.

The role requires strong communication assessment and engagement skills together with the ability to work collaboratively within a multi-agency environment. Experience of delivering parenting support undertaking direct work with children and working intensively with families experiencing crisis or significant challenge would be advantageous.

The role involves travel across Norfolk and on occasion you may be required to work outside normal office hours to meet the needs of children and families. You may also be required to transport children and young people as part of your duties.

This is a unique opportunity to help shape a developing service and play a key role in achieving better outcomes for children and families across Norfolk. If you are passionate about relationship-based practice and committed to supporting children to safely return home and flourish within their families we would love to hear from you.

The interview process will consist of a competency-based interview.

Before you apply we recommend reading the fullJob Description and Person Specificationto help you demonstrate you meet the criteria. Please ensure that within your supporting statement you clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential and desirable criteria outlined in the person specification.

For an informal discussion about this opportunity please contact Michelle Jones Service Manager In Care

These are some benefits you can enjoy by working for Norfolk County Council:

• Competitive salary
• Generous holiday entitlement
• Health and Wellbeing services including fast-track physiotherapy and a free counselling service
• Flexible working opportunities including flexi-time part time remote and hybrid working dependant on your job role and business need.
• Financial benefits such as:
  • Norfolk Rewards our employee discounts programme which helps yousave money on almost anything from everyday groceries and clothes to holidays new technology gym membership trips to the cinema and days out.
  • ABlue Light card for Fire Service and Social Care Workers
  • Relocation expenses (where applicable)
  • An advance of your expenses if you travel for work
  • Local Government Pension Scheme with generous employer contribution life assurance death in service payments and dependants pensions.

  • Tax efficient ways of getting extra pension and new bikes

  • Access to our tax efficient car lease scheme for greener travel enabling you to lease a brand new ultra-low emission vehicle (subject to eligibility)

  • A payment if you refer someone you know to a hard to fill job

You can also find information on ourTerms and Conditionshere.

Already a Norfolk County Council employee See and apply for internal and external vacancies inmyOracleusing your @ or @ email.

We would like to make you aware that priority consideration for this post may be given to current employees who are at risk due to restructure within the organisation or are in a redeployment position.

Redeployment closing date: 16 July 2026 at 23:55

All other applicants closing date: 06 August 2026 at 23:55