Summary

The Family Justice Practice Officer is responsible for (i) supporting the delivery and development of our family justice practice support work, particularly family problem-solving courts; (ii) engaging and sharing learning with and from our family justice practitioners and service users; (iii) working collaboratively with Centre for Justice Innovation colleagues and partners across the areas of policy, practice, evidence and data.

Roles and responsibilities

The role of the Family Justice Practice Officer is to support the delivery and development of our family justice practice support work. A large part of this is fulfilling our role as the national provider of central support and oversight of Family Drug and Alcohol Courts (FDACs). In addition, the Family Justice Practice Officer role will support the delivery of our practice support in areas such as private law innovations, judge craft skills, the family court’s response to domestic abuse, and elevating the voices of children and families. Specifically, this includes:

• Leading, convening and prompting shared learning within our existing family court communities of practice, especially Family Drug and Alcohol Courts (FDACs);

• Working with local areas to make the case for, and develop, new FDACs across the UK, providing project management support where required;

• Delivering training for new FDACs and FDAC practitioners;

• Facilitating and developing practice workshops for family justice practitioners and judges;

• Elevating the voices of families with experience of the justice system by aiding the development and implementation of our Expert by Experience Group:

• Presenting our work at external events;

• Working with colleagues in policy and research to implement our vision for family justice and problem-solving courts;

• Supporting the team to develop new funding opportunities to broaden our work in the public and private family court systems;

• Enhancing the Centre's reputation as a source of quality, trusted, leadership and support in promoting and developing innovation in the UK’s justice systems;

• Working with the rest of the team to sustain and further develop our spirit and culture of innovation, learning, self-reflection and pragmatism;

Reporting arrangement

The Family Justice Practice Officer will report directly to the Head of Practice (Family Justice).

Skills, Experience and knowledge

The Family Justice Practice Officer will have experience of:

•  Frontline work in children’s services, family courts or related fields OR experience of managing projects and working with others to change frontline practice (essential);

• Delivering training / facilitating workshops (desirable);

• Working in a trauma-informed and/or multi-disciplinary service (desirable);

• Influencing and supporting internal and external partners to deliver on shared plans (desirable);

• Working with clients / service users, and the practitioners who work with them, in a safe, legal and supportive manner (essential);

• Involving clients / service users in the design of projects (desirable).

The Family Justice Practice Officer needs to be able to:

•  Manage projects;

• Deliver training and facilitate workshops for a range of audiences;

• Deploy good written and verbal communication skills;

• Balance multiple priorities and manage their own workload;

• Have good organisational and team work skills;

• Work at pace and to deadline;

• Show energy and enthusiasm;

• Communicate and engage a variety of audiences and stakeholders confidently and constructively;

•   Have the ability to work with vulnerable people and sensitive information in a safe, legal and supportive manner;

• Have a creative approach to solving problems and identifying practical solutions.

The Family Justice Practice Officer needs knowledge and understanding of:

• The challenges, realities and opportunities available to practitioners working within children’s services, the family courts and related fields;

• The complex issues impacting families in the justice system such as trauma, substance use, domestic abuse, neglect and mental health issues;

• Child protection and safeguarding processes;

• Trauma informed practice.

Prior knowledge and experience of FDAC is not essential, but the Family Justice Officer will be required to develop a strong technical understanding of the model once in post.

The post holder needs to have:

• A willingness and ability to travel within the UK and occasionally overseas;

• Eligibility to work in the UK legally.

Equal opportunities

It is the policy of The Centre for Justice Innovation to treat all employees and job applicants fairly and equally regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion, age, disability, offending history or trade union membership status.

The Centre is committed to fair recruitment and the inclusion of applicants with criminal records. It is essential that people do not face unfair discrimination in any role within the charity, whether paid or voluntary. For that reason, we do not use criminal records to exclude people. We only ask about criminal records if they are relevant to the role.

Interviews will be held on Tuesday 10th December and Wednesday 11th December. Our preference is to hold these in person at our offices in Kennington, SE11 5DP; however virtual interviews can be arranged if required.