Family Journeys are currently recruiting for a trustee to join our Board of Directors. Collectively, the board are responsible for the governance and strategic directions of our charity and we would welcome any individual with compassion and professional experience in the field of social work, children’s services, third sector or family law to please get in touch with us.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our team of dedicated staff supporting children and families to maintain or rebuild relationships with missing family members after parental separation or relationship breakdown. The role provides an interesting variety of family support interventions including working in our child contact centres as the Family Connection Lead worker (we refer to child contact as our Family Connections service); one-to-one work with children in our All About Me Voice of the Child service; and developing focussed project and group work.

Our Family Connections service supports families through a child’s rights lens to support families move towards independent co-parenting solutions with the child’s needs at the heart of decision making. You will work as part of a staff team, on shift, with families referred via the family court system, or via self-referrals, to ensure safe supervised and supported child contact can be facilitated. You will have excellent relational skills and experience of working with both children and parents/carers. As Lead Worker you will have responsibility for families matched to you through our referrals and allocations process and ensure each family member is fully prepared for support, nurtured throughout their Family Connections journey, ensure reviews are timely, and that all work supports steps towards positive outcomes for children.

Currently the project part of this role is funded to develop our commitment to care experienced children and young people through The Promise. We seek someone with experience in participation and engagement practice and skills to organise small connection events. You should have experience of developing projects, collecting accurate data, and contributing to the impact assessment and reporting of the project. You should also have experience of working with external stakeholders, ideally social workers, solicitors and other third sector partners. Please note the funding through The Promise ends in Jan 2025 hence the temporary nature of this role. It is anticipated further project funding will be available after this time.

The role will also involve nurturing one-to-one support through our All About Me Voice of the Child service which adopts a therapeutic approach to support the child understand more about their family story, safely explore their feelings and opinions, and explore options for next steps. Sometimes our children voice they are not ready to see family members due to previous trauma, it is our duty to ensure this voice is heard by decision makers, including parents and family court Sheriffs.

The Organisation:

Family Journeys are a forward-thinking organisation who work with and alongside children and families as they navigate changes to their family because of separation and relationship breakdown. Often our families have experienced high levels of conflict and children and parent relationships have become negatively impacted by adversity and change. We start our engagement with every family believing in success and achieving positive outcomes for children. Family Journeys provide professional Family Mediation services, Family Connections services, All About Me Voice of the Child services, individual parent support, and group or project work provision to support families find solutions. We proudly adapt our services to meet the needs of our children and families in response to lived experience feedback.

Family Journeys are a small organisation doing big things across Edinburgh and The Lothians. We belief the biggest difference comes from attention to the smallest details. We always think ‘child first’. So, if you are kind and compassionate, skilled in building relationships and see the person not the problem, if you share our commitment to involving children as active decision makers in their own care arrangements that will forever impact on their family relationships – then we want to hear from you.

The Opportunity:

We are looking to employ at 6-18 hours per week however we would be willing to discuss hours at interview. The role is fully funded until January 2025 with continued funding anticipated.

This role will be over 1-3 days per week and will be on shift in our Family Connections service which operate Thursday – Sunday. One weekend day will be required. We work with staff to ensure best fit with your circumstances and the needs of the organisation to set an agreed working pattern to a fixed rota across the staff team. Project and Development hours will be worked flexibly to meet the needs of our children and families. This may include outreach family support and group work. You will have flexibility to manage these hours across the rest of your week with compressed hours an option.

Family Journeys offer you a competitive salary with annual incremental growth, generous annual leave entitlement (35 days pro rata inclusive of 9 public holidays and 1 annual wellbeing day) and a contributory pension scheme.

Family Journeys supports families after separation. The team currently provide a range of family services, including mediation, “child contact”, parent coaching, therapeutic play and intensive family support work to parents and their children.

Role

Our new Family Connections Lead role is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Family Practitioner to support the Family Connections team deliver exceptional interventions to our children and parents

As a Lead Worker, you will ensure excellent service delivery, best practice and guidance and exceptional and consistent family management across Family Journeys services

You will ensure caseloads are seamlessly managed with a proactive and standardised approach to family services, and you will be committed to adapting a best practice model ensuring consistency with our policies, processes and procedures.

In this key role, you will work closely with a team of Family Connections Staff across outreach locations in central Edinburgh, West Lothian and East Lothian.

This role will require some weekend flexibility and working days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday

About you

You will be a dynamic childhood practitioner who is able to support and communicate with a diverse team and individuals during emotionally challenging situations.

You will have the ability to motivate and develop best practice service delivery on behalf of our children and families

You will have previously worked in a childcare or family support setting and be familiar with case load management and have experience and expertise in working in vulnerable and high-risk situations

What we offer

• A truly flexible, supportive and rewarding working environment, making a real difference to the families we work with
• 35 days annual leave
• Extensive CPD Calendar and staff training
• Co-CEO and Regional Manager support and supervision model
• Pension contribution
• Flexible working practices

Family Journeys supports families after separation. The team currently provide a range of family services, including mediation, child contact, parent coaching, therapeutic play and intensive family support work to parents and their children.

Role

Our new Team Leader role is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Family Practitioner to lead and support the Family Connections team deliver exceptional interventions to our children and parents.

As the Team Leader, you will ensure excellent service delivery, strong leadership and guidance and exceptional and consistent performance management across Family Journeys services.

You will ensure caseloads, staff rotas and schedules are seamlessly managed with a proactive and standardised approach to family services, and you will be committed to adapting a best practice model ensuring consistency with our policies, processes and procedures.

In this key role, you will line manage a team of Family Connections Staff across outreach locations in central Edinburgh, West Lothian and East Lothian.

About you

You will be a dynamic leader who is able to support and communicate with a diverse team during emotionally challenging situations.

You will have the ability to motivate and develop your locality teams and continually adapt and strive for best practice service delivery on behalf of our families.

You will have previously led a small team, be familiar with scheduling and case load management and have experience and expertise in working in vulnerable and high-risk situations.

What we offer

A truly flexible, supportive and rewarding working environment, making a real difference to the families we work with

• 34 days annual leave
• Extensive CPD Calendar and staff training
• Co-CEO support and supervision model
• Pension contribution
• Flexible working practices

We are developing a project helping Family Journeys to put children's rights at the heart of everything we do, with young people and children working to share their views and experiences through peer support.

Family Journeys helps families affected by separation and divorce. We have been awarded funding to develop our approach to young people's participation and leadership, and their engagement of children who have been affected by separation. We aim to establish groups around Edinburgh and the Lothians for young people and children whose parents access our services or who may be our clients in their own right.

This is a new role and a new approach in family mediation and child contact services. We are looking for a confident, well organised individual who can think creatively, plan strategically, and engage with young people to inspire and support them to work with us.

Nature Family Contact Club in Family Journeys

Family Journeys is developing an exciting new project helping children whose families are separated to maintain relationships with their non-resident parent, using nature and outdoor play. This is a short-term funded project (Inspiring Scotland Organised Outdoor Play Fund) helping us to evaluate the potential of this approach. You will deliver weekend outdoor play sessions in four locations around the Lothians enabling families to access this opportunity locally.

We are looking for a creative individual confident to work in the outdoors facilitating children’s free play, helping their parents engage and have fun with them, whilst co-ordinating safe contact through communication with both parents and case managers.

Driving license and access to a vehicle essential.

Nature Family Contact Club in Family Journeys

Family Journeys is developing an exciting new project helping children whose families are separated to maintain relationships with their non-resident parent, using nature and outdoor play. This is a short-term funded project (Inspiring Scotland Organised Outdoor Play Fund) helping us to evaluate the potential of this approach. You will deliver weekend outdoor play sessions in four locations around the Lothians enabling families to access this opportunity locally.

We are looking for a creative individual confident to work in the outdoors facilitating children’s free play, helping their parents engage and have fun with them, whilst co-ordinating safe contact through communication with both parents and case managers.

Driving license and access to a vehicle essential.

We are facing a high demand for our services post-covid and a backlog of families whose services were interrupted during 2020. As we re-open our venues and services, our small team needs help to manage our cases and capacity, ensuring clients' journey from referral through assessment and into services is monitored, and that we are making best use of appointments and venue spaces. We need a highly organised person, with strong IT skills, to help us with logistics. Using our case management system and scheduling apps, communication with team members (all of whom are part-time) and service managers, you will help us to make clients' experience more efficient, whilst at the same time helping us to ensure prompt billing.

Family Journeys helps children and their families following separation and divorce. We are committed to developing a children rights-based approach in which we listen to and support children, and help parents as they move forward after separation (following divorce or other changes in family life).

If you have skills in youth work, children’s work or family support, consider joining our new and dynamic team as we develop and shape the services and experiences that children and parents need. We are interested in practitioners with a background in therapeutic approaches for children and parents.