Exploitation Support Worker

South West London (Central Office is based in Mortlake – 12 mins from Clapham Junction and 23 mins from Waterloo)

Services

Full time

Fixed Term Contract

Fixed Term contract until 31 March 2027

£31,490 per annum. 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday 10:00 am - 18:00 pm. Happy to talk about flexible working.

You will support young people who have been affected by child criminal exploitation and missing. You will also work with many parents and carers who need emotional support, advice, information and/or advocacy because their child is being criminally exploited. You will provide a safe and confidential space for them to talk through their experiences and help them to understand their options and how to stay safe.

You will be a strong advocate for young people and families, working with them and other agencies to ensure they get the help they need to stay safe, and to reduce the risks of harm they face.

• Deliver national anonymous support via phone, email, SMS, and live chat, working collaboratively with the helpline team to offer a wraparound exploitation support service.
• Promptly assess referrals from police, local authority staff, project workers and children / young people as well as families for service suitability.
• Hold case discussions and consult managers as necessary to assess risk and plan service user support where the risk is heightened.

• Support individuals receiving our service to have their voice heard by the various professionals, carers and family members in their lives.
• Represent the person and the charity professionally and constructively in any context where advocacy is required.

• Be sensitive to the distress parents and carers may be experiencing following a child’s disappearance, which can sometimes be ongoing in relation to CCE
• Provide advice and on-going support to parents and carers which promote their and their child’s safety and wellbeing.
• Effectively signpost supported individuals to other partnered services including Missing People’s various services.

Could you bring your expertise in working with young people to support Missing People's Exploitation Service? You will need to have the right to work in the UK and relevant experience, knowledge and skills including:

• Significant experience working directly to support at risk young people and families in a social care, statutory or voluntary sector setting;
• Significant experience of successfully advocating for young people and families to get the support they need from other agencies;
• Experience of assessing needs, recognising risk and implementing safeguarding procedures to safeguard children, young people or vulnerable adults.
• Experience of designing and implementing support plans which promote increased wellbeing and safety for young people and families;

• Working (proven) knowledge of:
  • the risks faced by children and young people who are missing, associated with a gang, involved in county lines and experiencing child criminal exploitation;
  • effective methods for safeguarding children and young people who are missing, associated with a gang, involved in county lines and experiencing child criminal exploitation;
  • how statutory services respond to victims of county lines and child criminal exploitation and their families.
• Excellent record keeping skills including the effective use of client record databases.

Missing People is a friendly and supportive place to work – it’s a welcoming, caring organisation which really makes a difference to people affected by the issue of missing throughout the UK. We offer generous paid holidays, a range of enhanced family friendly benefits and are happy to talk about flexible working in most roles.

Somebody goes missing in the UK every 90 seconds. Missing People exists to ease the heartache experienced by those missing…