Best Start in Life Advisor – Birth to Settled Adulthood Full Time NEW

The role focuses on families with pre-school children – from birth through to starting pre-school – where a child has learning difficulties, physical disabilities, or other special educational needs. You’ll provide practical support, advice, and guidance that helps parents and carers feel confident in meeting their child’s needs day to day.

Most of your time will be spent working directly with families in their homes, on a one-to-one basis with children and their parents or carers. The aim is to build skills and confidence so families can play an active part in their child’s development – not just receive support, but genuinely own it.

You’ll sit within the B2SA Team alongside social workers, family workers, and occupational therapists, and connect into a wider service that includes a Short Breaks Team, Young Carers Team, and Preparation for Adulthood Team. Day to day, you’ll coordinate regularly with health colleagues, SEN caseworkers, education settings, and specialist provisions to make sure families get a joined-up response rather than a fragmented one.

As a Best Start in Life Advisor within Dorset’s Birth to Settled Adulthood team, you’ll play a vital role in giving every child the strongest possible start. This is a hands-on, relationship-focused role where you’ll work directly with families and professionals to support early development and smooth transitions.

What You’ll Do

• Observe and Understand: Spend time with children and families to identify strengths, interests, and developmental needs.
• Create and Deliver: Design play-based activities tailored to each child’s stage and goals, making learning fun and meaningful.
• Empower Families: Offer practical advice, encouragement, and signposting to services that help parents and carers feel confident and supported.
• Collaborate for Success: Work closely with health, education, and social care professionals to ensure seamless transitions at key milestones.
• Lead Targeted Sessions: Deliver engaging Stay and Play sessions in Family Hubs, focusing on age-appropriate, needs-led topics.

What You’ll Bring

• Experience and Insight: Proven ability to work with very young children, including those with additional needs, and their families.
• Assessment and Planning Skills: Confidence in assessing developmental needs and creating activity programmes linked to long-term goals.
• Adaptability: Carry out regular home visits, monitor progress, and adjust activities to keep families moving forward.
• Family-Centred Approach: Skilled in coaching parents/carers to develop play, communication, and relationships so they can take the lead.
• Strong Core Skills: Excellent interpersonal, organisational, and IT skills, including proficiency in MS Teams and internal platforms.
• Team Spirit: Commitment to collaborative working with locality-based Advisors through joint training and shared learning.

Successful candidates must attend the accredited three-day National Portage Association (NPA) Training Workshop if not already NPA trained.

Further Information

This is a part time role at 30 hours per week. For an informal discussion about the role please contact Rachel Nesbitt: [email protected]

For the interview, please prepare a 5 minute presentation: Priorities for the first 90 days as a Birth to Settled Adulthood Advisor.

About Us

At Dorset Council, it’s not just about the work we do, it’s about how we do it. Hear directly from our employees about what makes Dorset Council special in this short video:

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At Dorset Council, we are working together to create a fairer, more prosperous, and more sustainable Dorset for everyone, now and in the future.

We

• provide essential services that support over 300,000 residents
• work in partnership to make a real difference
• value every role and the impact it has on our communities
• support our employees to grow, develop, and thrive

You Will

• be part of a team that works together for a better Dorset
• have access to a range of benefits and support
• receive training and development opportunities to help your career progress

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation where different skills, perspectives, and backgrounds strengthen both our council and the communities we serve.

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. If you declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role, we will offer you an interview. We also want our recruitment process to be accessible, if you need any reasonable adjustments, just let us know on your application.

This role is UK-based, and we will need to confirm your Right to Work as part of the appointment process. We use generic job descriptions and person specifications, so the job title in any attachments may differ from the advert. If needed, we will provide additional details in a context statement.

If you’re passionate about making a difference, we’d love you to join us.