About this role
Job summary
Sandwell Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies - Barnardo's
About Family us
Best Start Family Hubs provide a place based approach to coordinating the delivery of integrated services for parents, carers, babies, and young children. At the heart of the model is theStart for Life Services, supporting families from conception to age two - the critical period for child development, health, and emotional wellbeing. Best Start Family Hubs also provide access to wider services for children aged0-19, orup to 25 for young people with SEND.
Barnardo's is a key delivery partner of Sandwell's Best Start Family Hubs across six localities: Oldbury, Smethwick, Tipton, Rowley Regis, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich, with a strong focus on accessibility, prevention, and community engagement.
Role Purpose
As aStart for Life Practitioner, you will contribute to improving outcomes for babies and parents during pregnancy and the first two years of life. You will deliver universal and targeted Start for Life provision that promotes perinatal wellbeing, positive parent infant relationships, early child development, and healthy lifestyle choices, in line with Sandwell's Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies priorities.
Main duties of the job
Key Responsibilities
Start for Life Delivery
Contribute to delivery of the Pregnancy and Start for Life pathways, supporting parents from prebirth to age two.
Act as a consistent point of contact for parents, helping them navigate universal services and access appropriate provision through activities such as well-being contacts, 1 to 1 support within the family home etc.
Deliver Start for Life focused sessions and activities, including baby clubs, baby massage, and wellbeing groups that promote bonding, attachment, and early development.
Health and Wellbeing
Deliver interventions that promote emotional wellbeing for parents/carers and infants, incorporating perinatal mental health awareness and resilience building approaches.
Support positive parent infant relationships through evidence based approaches and reflective practice.
Encourage healthy lifestyle behaviours during pregnancy and early parenthood.
Promote and support infant feeding choices, including breastfeeding initiation and continuation through guidance and signposting.
Engagement, Information and Access
Provide information, guidance, and signposting to antenatal, perinatal support, health, early learning, and community services across Sandwell.
Please see Barnardo's website for full details
About us
We arecommitted to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.
Please see Barnardo's website for full details.
Job description Job responsibilities
Background and Service Specifics
Sandwell Family Hubs - Black Country Locality
Barnardos is proud to lead the delivery of Sandwell Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies across the Borough. These hubs provide a wide range of high-quality, locally designed services for families in the six town areas:
Oldbury, Smethwick, Tipton, Rowley Regis, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich.
Our commitment is to create strong, resilient communities by:
Promoting easy access to services
Reducing barriers to engagement
Building lasting connections with families
The Role of the SfL Practitioner
Responsible for: No line management responsibility, however, will support volunteers and students.
Responsible to: Team Manager for SfL
Job Purpose: To provide services and support for perinatal mental health, parent infant relationships and infant feeding during first 1001 days.
Your base location and designated towns will be agreed upon appointment. Please see attached Job Description
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Minimum of Level 3 qualification or equivalent in relevant field
Experience Essential
Experience of working with and supporting babies/children/young people and their families to achieve positive outcomes
Skills Essential
Deliver/ Lead a range of universal programmes in a group setting and interventions on a 1 to 1 basis Good understanding of child development The ability to work in a multiagency environment and with external agencies Secure knowledge and confidence to recognise and respond appropriately on Safeguarding concerns. Ability to collate and analyse information to produce high quality
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details Employer name Barnardo’s
Address Main Street
Smethwick
B66 1DX
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.barnardos.org.uk (Opens in a new tab)