Lifelong Links Coordinator

Job Introduction

Job title: Lifelong Links Coordinator

Salary: £39,481 progressing to £43,149 per annum

Location: Hertfordshire

Hours: 37

Contract: Secondment or Fixed Term to 31st March 2028

Directorate: Childrens Services

About The Team

Lifelong Links has been described as a mix of the television programmes “Who do you think you are?” and “Long Lost Families”. Hertfordshire’s Lifelong Links service has been supporting our Looked After children and young people to reconnect with important people since 2017. This could be family and people they already know, those they haven't seen for a while, or relatives they've never met.

It could also be a teacher, football coach or former foster carers. Lifelong Links can help a child to develop supportive, stable relationships during and after their time in care providing them with stability, security and a sense of belonging.

Lifelong Links is an evidenced based programme, developed by the Family Rights Group. Independent evaluations of the Lifelong Links approach have found positive outcomes for children and young who have participated in Lifelong Links such as improved mental health and wellbeing, improved sense of identity, improved stability in their foster or residential home and a reduced risk of homelessness when they leave care.

Hertfordshire’s Lifelong Links Service sits within the Family Group Conferencing Service.

About The Role

Lifelong Links Coordinators will work with Looked After children and young people who have been referred to the Lifelong Links service by the Children Looked After, 0-25 and Separated Migrant Children’s Teams.

Lifelong Links is child led. The role involves working directly with children and young people using tools such as mobility mapping, genograms and timelines to help them identify people who are important to them. The Lifelong Links Coordinator will have searched for these people with the aim of bringing them together with the child or young person at a Celebration Event to make a Lifelong Links Family Plan aimed at supporting the child or young person’s ongoing relationships with these important people.

About You

Essential:

• Knowledge of child protection/safeguarding procedures.
• A commitment to anti-discriminatory practices in employment and service provision.
• Experience of undertaking direct work with children and young people.
• High level of computer literacy.
• Commitment to embedding innovative ways of working.
• Excellent communication, listening, liaison and negotiation skills.
• Ability to work flexible hours in line with the needs of the children and young people and their networks. This will include some evenings and some weekends.
• Driving licence and access to a car for work purposed. This is an essential car user post and you must be insured for business use.
• Willingness to travel outside of Hertfordshire; children and young people may live in foster and residential homes out of county. Family members and others may live outside of Hertfordshire.

Desirable:

• To have delivered the Lifelong Links process as part of the wider delivery of Children and Young People’s Services.
• To have worked independently and within agreed time constraints.
• Experience of working with a child-led approach.
• Experience of working in a trauma-informed way.
• Experience and knowledge of working with cared for children and young people living in foster and residential homes.
• Using initiative and a proactive approach to progress and achieve a child or young person’s stated aims.
• To have had experience in working in a partnership with other professionals.

We are looking for passionate and committed individuals to join our dedicated Lifelong Links team and help make a lasting difference to the lives of children and young people in care. If you do not already…