Youth Justice Officer

As a Youth Justice Officer you will:

Hold responsibility for developing a trauma-informed approach to individual assessment, planning & interventions with children & families who have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES). To work in conjunction with their Team Manager and Manager YJS to:

• Manage a case load of youth justice children from diverse backgrounds and work innovative with them, engaging them and their families and other professionals in order to assess, develop and deliver intervention and activities that support their personal and social skills and participation in society.
• Directly contribute to achieving positive youth justice service outcomes linked to KPI’s including reducing re offending, reducing FTE’s, reducing the use of custody and reducing the unnecessary criminalising of CLA.
• Note: all duties and responsibilities must be exercised in a manner which is consistent with the Service’s policies, including those relating to Diversity, Dignity at Work and Data Protection. Post holders are required to respect confidentiality of information acquired in the course of the responsibilities of the role.

Responsibilities:

• Working within a multi-disciplinary team, to be responsible for all aspects of case management of youth justice cases, including dealing with non-compliance issues swiftly and effectively in compliance with local and national standards and inspection frameworks
• To effectively engage with children & families from diverse backgrounds at all stages of case management including during assessment, review and delivery of interventions/programmes.
• To gather information, analyse and assess in order to manage risk, re-offending and safety/well being accurately using appropriate screening and assessment tools; taking necessary measures to ensure welfare needs are dealt with effectively and public protection considerations are effectively managed.
• To represent YJ in the Youth Magistrate’s and Crown Court providing advice and support to children, their families and the judiciary. Undertaking assessments within a secure area will also be part of the role when working in court.
• To act as lead professional for allocated cases and work collaboratively with partners using a family based approach to work towards increasing children and family resilience.
• Working collaboratively with children and a wide range of agencies, adopt creative and innovative approaches to deliver effective evidence based group or individual interventions/programmes to reduce the risk of offending and disengagement from education, training and employment
• To adopt a restorative approach in engaging children and work together with colleagues to support opportunities to repair harm.
• To maintain clear, precise and appropriate case management records on IT client information systems, in accordance with local and national standards and in line with data protection guidelines
• Prepare, deliver and participate in the running of group work programmes.
• To work collaboratively with partner agencies to maintain existing programs and interventions and to develop new ones to meet the needs of the children and families within the local community.
• Work within a performance management framework, achieving outcomes identified through performance indicators in the service area.
• To comply with the Council’s Health and Safety Policy and associated safe working procedures and guidelines.
• To comply with the Council’s Comprehensive Equality Policy and to ensure that it is implemented within the service area of the post.
• To comply with the Council’s Information Management Framework (including the Data Protection Policy, Code of Practice, and social media Policy).

Work Environment:

• The role is predominantly office-based with some home working and will require regular attendance at Youth Courts, Crown Courts, secure estates, Police stations and community facilities.
• Home visiting is a regular requirement of work with families, at times outside 9-5 hours to avoid interfering with school and work commitments of families. The public engagement element this role involves regularly coming into contact with people, some of whom may at times be distressed, agitated and, from time to time challenging.
• There is a requirement to be able to work flexibly and outside normal office hours, including evening, weekends and on call-arrangement and required to be flexible and adaptable to ensure consistent provision of service.