Georgia Shaw.  March 2023.

Whilst completing my university degree in Early Childhood Studies, I was introduced to a wealth of knowledge which would help shape and support the ongoing work with children and families across all sectors. After completing numerous placements in various early years settings, I was convinced I had my future career path nailed. As rewarding as working with children in this environment had been, I began to question the different directions in supporting not just only children, but their families in a different context. It was then I took the plunge into independently looking into family support work.

When browsing the internet, I came across Amber Family. This service offered parents and their children a unique opportunity that I had never encountered before during my studies. I was instantly drawn to how Amber supported families undergoing an intense assessment and what I could only imagine, would be one of the most difficult challenges they would ever face.

Luckily (for me) they were not daunted by the numerous emails, enquiring if they took on volunteers to be part of their service. It was from then on, I was supported in applying for one of their current openings as a support worker for nights and weekends, which is where my Amber Family journey began.

I spent a number of years as a support worker, helping families grow in confidence with parenting. This develops through the smallest of tasks which would inevitably shape their assessment and ultimately, their future with their children.  When the opportunity for a Trainee Key Worker became available, I applied for the post as my next path way within Amber. This role meant I had greater responsibility for intensely guiding families through the assessment process and conducting weekly meetings with them, which would help form a substantial amount of evidence needed to inform the final recommendations of a family’s future.

Fast forward two years on as a full time Key Worker, I have worked with a number of families each and every one being different from the last. As my colleagues have highlighted in previous blogs, no two days are EVER the same at Amber. But in my experience, it is the growth of each family which keeps the job continuously rewarding. Despite the outcome of a family’s final assessment, as a Key Worker you become a part of developing and encouraging a parent’s ability to overcome their own difficulties of past experiences and you are constantly striving to support them to safely shape their life together with their children.

Being a parent has no instruction manual, but as a Key Worker at Amber, it begins with understanding that life for some parents presents with more challenges than others. It is important as a Key Worker to acknowledge what may have brought them to Amber in the first place. With this, you begin to understand and adapt to their way of processing information and to explore the most beneficial way to deliver feedback. In doing so, gives each parent from different abilities the manageable ways to achieve their best potential during their assessment process.

My own experience shows that being a Key Worker has helped me grow as a person. One such instance is quickly adapting on my own initiative in a setting that is frequently fast-paced and so varied.  My journey at Amber Family has been full of so many highlights, both personally and professionally and they continue every day, week and month.