Kinship Navigator – West Dunbartonshire

Job title: Kinship Navigator – West Dunbartonshire

Responsible to: Programmes Manager

Duration: Fixed Term – 3 Years

Location: Co-located at Y Sort It offices G81 3EA, West Dunbartonshire, with regular community outreach and home visits across the area. Occasional travel to Kinship’s Head Office in Vauxhall, London, SE11 5RR.

Working Hours: 0.8 FTE, 28 hours per week.

Salary: £26,500 per year, pro rata to 0.8 (£21,200)

Leave allocation: 24 days annual leave (30 days FTE), plus bank holidays pro rata for part time hours (1 April to 31 March).

Information:

About Kinship

Kinship is the leading National kinship care charity, supporting relatives and friends who step up to raise children when their parents cannot. Through advice, practical support, research and campaigning, we work to ensure kinship families have the help they need to thrive. Together with our community, we drive positive change so that every child can grow up in a loving, stable family environment.

About the Opportunity

Join Kinship at an exciting milestone as we launch our first programme in Scotland. Working in partnership with Inspiring Scotland and local youth charity Y Sort It, this National Lottery-funded pilot will strengthen support for kinship families in West Dunbartonshire through a coordinated, whole-family approach.

As part of a small and dedicated delivery team, you will help shape Kinship’s future in Scotland, contribute to evidence-based learning, and make a lasting difference to kinship carers, children and young people in the local community.

The Role

As a Kinship Navigator, you will provide intensive, six-month support to kinship carers through Kinship Connected, helping families build resilience, access services and strengthen support networks. Based at Y Sort It and working across the community, you will develop trusted relationships with families, carry out assessments and reviews, and coordinate support with local partners, including Intandem mentors.

This is a rewarding, community-focused role where you will directly support kinship families while helping to demonstrate the impact of an innovative new model of support in Scotland.

Key Responsibilities

As a Kinship Navigator, you will provide intensive one-to-one support to kinship carers, helping families access services, build support networks and achieve positive outcomes for the children in their care. You will carry out assessments, develop support plans, advocate on behalf of families and facilitate a local peer support group.

Working closely with Y Sort It, Inspiring Scotland and local partners, you will coordinate support for kinship families, strengthen referral pathways and contribute to a pioneering whole-family approach in West Dunbartonshire.

You will also play a key role in safeguarding, partnership working and maintaining high-quality records to demonstrate impact and inform future development of Kinship’s work in Scotland.

About You

We're looking for someone with experience supporting vulnerable families, carers or communities through direct casework, family support or similar roles. You'll be confident building trusted relationships, carrying out assessments, managing a caseload and working collaboratively with statutory and voluntary sector partners.

You will bring strong communication, organisation and record-keeping skills, alongside an understanding of safeguarding and trauma-informed practice. Knowledge of kinship care or the Scottish family support landscape would be beneficial, as would experience facilitating support groups and using CRM systems such as Salesforce.

Most importantly, you'll be empathetic, resilient and passionate about improving outcomes for kinship families, with the confidence to work independently while contributing to a small, supportive team.

Knowledge, abilities, skills and experience:

Essential:

Experience

Practice delivery and direct support

• Experience delivering direct support to vulnerable families or carers, including completing needs assessments and developing support plans.
• Experience providing structured one-to-one support, casework or family support over a defined period.
• Experience working directly in community settings or alongside statutory or partner organisations.
• Experience facilitating peer or support groups in community or online settings.
• Experience working with statutory, voluntary and community services, including liaising with professionals around the family.
• Experience recognising and responding appropriately to safeguarding concerns.

Knowledge and understanding 

• Understanding of the challenges facing kinship carers and the children they care for, or the ability to develop this knowledge quickly.
• Understanding of the Scottish social care and family support landscape, including relevant legislation, policy and guidance.
• Understanding of trauma-informed and strengths-based approaches when working with families.
• Awareness of how children’s social care, education, health or welfare systems affect families in Scotland.

Skills and abilities

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build trusting relationships with kinship carers and professionals.
• Ability to manage a caseload, prioritise work effectively and maintain clear professional boundaries.
• Excellent ability to maintain accurate case records and data using a CRM or case management system (e.g. Salesforce).
• Strong organisational and IT skills, including the ability to use digital systems for case management, communication and reporting.
• Ability to work independently while contributing positively to a collaborative delivery team and a co-location partnership.

Personal attributes

• Professional, empathetic and resilient when supporting families facing complex challenges.
• A self-starter who is confident working with a degree of autonomy as Kinship’s first presence in Scotland.
• Commitment to Kinship’s values and mission, with a strong focus on putting kinship carers first.
• Demonstrable commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, with the ability to work respectfully and effectively with kinship families from a wide range of backgrounds and communities.
• Willingness to travel within West Dunbartonshire and occasionally elsewhere for meetings or training.
• Right to work in the UK.

Desirable:

• Lived experience of kinship care.
• Knowledge of kinship care policy, guidance and support available in Scotland.
• Experience working within children’s social care, family support or community services in Scotland.
• Experience working in partnership or co-located with another organisation.
• Experience using Salesforce or similar CRM / case management systems.

Application notes

Closing date for applications: Monday 28th September at 9am

Interviews: Wednesday 7th November 2026 in West Dunbartonshire.

If you would like further information or an informal chat about this role, please contact us.

Application Guidelines:

Any applications arriving after the closing date will not be considered for shortlisting unless there are exceptional reasons. 

Kinship reserves the right to close a recruitment campaign earlier than the advertised where we have received sufficient applications so please apply early!

Please apply for the role of Kinship Navigator – West Dunbartonshire by sending a CV and answering the 5 questions on the job listing, there is no requirement to submit a cover letter.

Please use examples to demonstrate your experience.

Why do you want to work for Kinship as a Kinship Navigator, and how does this role align with your values and experience?

Describe a time you supported a family or carer facing complex challenges. How did you asses their needs and decide what support was most important?

Guidance: Please describe a real example from your work. Tell us what you did personally, the actions you took and what happened as a result.

Tell us about a situation where you had to work with professionals from different organisations (for example schools, social workers or community services) to support a family.

Guidance: Explain how you built relationships, managed differences of opinion and ensured the family received appropriate support.

Give an example of a time you had concerns about the safety or wellbeing of a child or their family member. What steps did you take and how did you decide what to do?

Guidance: Describe your role in recognising and responding to the concern and any safeguarding processes you followed.

Tell us about how you managed a caseload or multiple families at once. How did you keep accurate records and make sure important information was documented?

Guidance: Please describe the systems or processes you used and why accurate recording was important.

Please include your notice period / earliest availability to start. 

Some tips for your application:

Make sure you’ve read the job description and the essential requirements – make sure your application reflects those points in the requirements very clearly.

Tell us why you want to work for Kinship. We’re interested in working with people who share our values. You can read about our values above.

Keep your response clear – use bullets points and short paragraphs if that helps. It will help the recruitment team to focus on your knowledge, skills and experience.

Please do not use AI tools like ChatGPT to produce your answers. We use software to check, and your application will be rejected if you do.

Key dates:

Application deadline: Monday 28th September 2026 at 9am

First interview: Wednesday 7th October 2026

Kinship reserves the right to close applications early on receipt of sufficient applications. Apply early!