Making the difference
Having the ability to keep a child safe or a family together is a wonderful thing.
Working in Children’s Services offers diverse careers that cannot be rivalled for impact where the positive impacts of your work will extend a long way beyond your day-to-day role.
Helping to keep a child safe means that you are giving them a better chance of a happy, healthy and thriving future.
A video about what we are doing and have achieved:
Our values and ways of working
Our mission
- children in Dorset thrive, are happy and are the very best that they can be
- we inspire and enable children, young people and their families to find solutions that enable them to develop sustainable, safe and secure relationships with each other and within their community
- we listen and act so that the voices of children and families is at the heart of everything we do
- we work together to collaboratively shape, support and develop communities
Our vision
- shift our efforts to early help
- get it right first time
- work to meet need, rather than manage threshold
- co-produce services with families
Our values
- collaborative – we want to work with citizens and communities, not do things for or to them
- strength based – we work with people, not problems
- restorative – we want to stop harm and repair relationships
How we work
- our services will be rooted in place and delivered by multi-professional teams
- our approach to citizens will be strength based and restorative
- we will proactively provide early help, rather than reactively make a late intervention
- we will measure our success on how we have made life better for children and young people
- we will always learn and strive to improve so we can deliver better outcomes for children and young people
- we will be digital by default and deliver services only where we are required by law, and where we can do this more effectively and more efficiently than anyone else
Meet some of the team
Phoebe Steer, SEN Provisional Lead
Rachael, Advanced Practitioner
Amanda Davis, Corporate Director
Why work for Dorset Council
We prioritise support, learning, development, and wellbeing across our workforce. We celebrate and share good practice and will give you the training and development you need to excel.
We are an Ofsted rated Good authority with Outstanding Leadership. We keep children and families at the heart of practice by working within our Practice Framework.
Within Dorset our focus is on working within communities and with multi-agency input, responding to the individual needs of the communities we work with and approaching families in a restorative and strengths-based approach.
Career opportunities in Children’s Services
Social Worker
Social workers are at the heart of what we do. We are committed to providing the support, training, and development you need to continue to improve your professional practice as a social worker.
Find out more about:
- routes into social work
- returning to social work
- Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE)
- level 2 social work and beyond
Youth Worker
You will work with young people one-on-one, in groups, and through outreach. You will develop strong, positive relationships with colleagues. You will also collaborate with schools, community sector organisations, and partner agencies.
Family Worker
This role involves direct work with children, young people and their families, creating, supporting and contributing to multi-agency plans and interventions to improve outcomes and life chances for our children and young people in Dorset.
Residential Care Worker
You will provide care and support to children and young people. You will start in a residential setting. You will also work in communities and homes to improve their lives.
Fostering
Recruiting, assessing and supporting adoptive parents and foster carers, our team matches children to families and provides continual support. As a fostering Social Worker, you will be able to support Dorset's foster carers and help them achieve great outcomes for the children they care for.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
Support the development of Education, Health and Care Plans that are co-produced with the children, their families and the settings they attend. This role involves direct work with children and families.
Occupational Therapists
Occupational Therapists provide advice, reassurance, support, assessment and intervention to help children and young people develop their skills in everyday activities.
Educational Psychologists
Educational psychologists work with children, young people, families and schools, using psychology to promote positive outcomes in relation to wellbeing, communication and learning.