Fostering Panel Chair

Fostering - Panel Chair - Wetherby

We are recruiting for an Independent Fostering Panel Chair to advise on Foster Carers for our North Fostering Service.

The panel meets monthly and this is mostly virtual with two physical panels which meet in Wetherby, West Yorkshire.

As the Fostering Panel Chair, you will be responsible for participating in the recommendation on each case, drawing on both personal and professional knowledge and experience. To participate with other members in advising on policy and procedural matters, to address diversity issues and promote anti-discriminatory practice and to sit on a Panel to make recommendations about the suitability of applicants and foster carers.

We are looking for someone who will always think of the child, ensuring they are at the forefront of all decisions. Must be able to work as a team member to achieve the best outcomes for the children.

Experience working in the fostering sector and/or with children/young people would be an advantage but optional. No formal social work qualifications are necessary, but understanding and empathy for the work required is necessary.

As a Fostering Panel Chair, you will be paid £300 per panel.

**Responsibilities and Duties of the Fostering Panel Chair**:
To Chair panel meetings, ensuring that all items of business are covered and that panel operates in accordance with regulations and the policies and procedures of the agency

To prepare for panel meetings, reading panel papers carefully, identifying key issues and alerting the professional adviser if necessary to ensure, as far as possible, that the case is adequate for submission to panel

To advise Five Rivers on the quality of reports and professionalism of social work Staff

To facilitate the active participation of all panel members in contributing to the panel’s consideration of cases and to the making of clear and well-evidenced recommendations with the reasons for these

To ensure that all those attending panel are treated with respect and courtesy

CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS

Experience, either professionally or personally or both, of the placement of children in foster families and of children being cared for away from their birth family

Experience of chairing complex meeting

An appreciation of the effect of separation and loss on children

An understanding of child development

An awareness of the richness of different kinds of families and their potential for meeting children’s needs

An understanding of the purpose and function of the panels and of Five Rivers

An understanding of the fostering process and practice, and of the legislative framework for the work of the panel, or the capacity to develop this knowledge quickly

Five Rivers is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of Children and Young People, applicants must be willing to undergo appropriate child protection screening, including employment references and DBS check.

Five Rivers is an Investor in People and Equal Opportunities employer.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

HOW TO APPLY

**JOB REF**: AWDO-C11537

This job is being advertised by AWD online on behalf of Five Rivers Child Care

Full-Time, Permanent Jobs, Careers and Vacancies. Find a new job and work in Wetherby, West Yorkshire. Multi-Job Board Advertising and CV Sourcing Recruitment Services provided by AWD online.

Fostering - HCPC - Social Work - Social Worker - Foster Carer - Chair Person
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