Anyone work as a family liason officer?

[Imsosorryalan]

I'm looking into this area as a possible career change for me. Can you tell me about this job? Good bits / bad bits and how you trained for it?
Not much info on the Internet so I think there isn't a straightforward way to get into this!

[scurryfunge]

What is the context? It is a specific role in my profession.

[Imsosorryalan]

It would be as support within a primary school.

[scurryfunge]

Ah ok, was confusing it with policing where you would support families. Ignore me.

[rabbitstew]

I think schools often call them Family Link Workers, not Family Liaison Officers (so as not to confuse them with the police!).

[QueenOfToast]

I used to be a Family Support Worker for a group of local schools (also often called Family Link Worker). However, there are a lot of roles that fall under this one heading so check the job descriptions and grades very carefully as they vary widely.

The job that I did was often the step before social services involvement and I worked one to one with parents and children in their own homes to help them resolve any difficulties that they were experiencing. They were not forced to work with me and most people welcomed the help.

My route to the job was a bit convoluted but I had (1) lots of experience working one to one with 'troubled' (sorry, can't think of a better word without giving too much away ) children, (2) worked as a support worker in a local authority child protection setting and (3) been a chair of governors at a large city-centre primary school.

Lots of my colleagues had trained as counsellors and some had worked at Children's Centres.

HTH

[Gales]

Ours was a TA before taking on the role. She finds it very traumatic. Basically the whole schools problems are dumped at her door and then hands can be washed. Very rewarding when she is able to help, but so many occasions when she can't

IMO it's no-where near well paid enough for the responsibility and trauma that comes with it, but I have huge admiration for those who are able to do it well.

[diabolo]

It's not a lot of fun - especially in the school I work at with many problem families and children on Social Services radar. I can make a difference and we do have positive outcomes, but mostly it feels like I'm going round in pointless circles. The names change, the problems stay the same.

As you might have noticed, I am somewhat disillusioned with my role.

Training wise, I had to take several Safeguarding Children courses, culminating with the Level 3 Senior Designated Professional Course, run by the County Council, then finally the Working Together to Safeguard Children Course. Pretty harrowing stuff.