Careers in the Children's Disability Service
Children’s Disability Service (CDS) is a small, dedicated service supporting the most vulnerable children and young people in the county. Our dedicated social workers are trained to consider the specific vulnerabilities faced by children with disabilities so that support can be tailored to meet their highly complex needs.
We’re ambitious to improve outcomes for all children and young people and were judged Outstanding by Ofsted at our last inspection in July 2018.
Latest jobs
If there are no CDS jobs currently available, you can sign up to email alerts to be told when there is a vacancy.
Work, train and develop your career
Our approach is all about building relationships with children, young people and their families, and making time to take a creative approach to individual needs. As a result, we don’t expect you to come with all the right skills. Each child you are working with will communicate in a unique way and you will get familiar with the individual communication style of a child as the relationship evolves. The skills you learn will enable you to ‘listen’ to children who are non-verbal and ensure their voices are heard. We know that each child is different, so we have built in time for social workers to develop a creative approach to this work.
The CDS team works across Children in Need, Child Protection, Looked After Children and adoption pathways, which provides excellent learning opportunities through the sharing of knowledge. We also follow best practice in areas such as domestic violence and substance abuse, with expertise provided by several linked teams. This multi-disciplinary approach ensures a strong focus on the child’s journey.
Specialist training
In addition to wide ranging training for all our social workers, you can access the following specialist training to support you in your work and career development:
- Communicate in Print training
- Makaton training
- deaf awareness
- communication with disabled children workshops
- Education Health and Care Plan workshops
- Video Interactive Guidance training
- bespoke training relating to children who present with behavioural challenge
- opportunities for lead roles in specialist subject areas; voice of the child, resilience, Connected Practice, drug and alcohol misuse, child sexual abuse, attachment; and digital practice.
Becoming a practice manager
Our senior social work professionals are highly motivated with a thorough understanding of how to improve outcomes for children and a proven track record in statutory children’s services. If you’re applying for a practice manager role, you will already be a senior social worker ready to take your first step into management or an experienced manager with strong management and leadership skills. You will have extensive experience in undertaking complex work and sharing your learning and experience with others as well as experiencing of supervising staff.
To join us your practice must be evidence-based, and you must be up to date on current theories and research. We will ensure you receive individualised support through a range of training and development opportunities to enable you to succeed in this role and to develop your career.
Locations
Teams are based in Eastbourne but cover the whole county.
Help applying for jobs
For advice on completing your application form and the interview process, see Help applying for jobs with the County Council.