Fostering Social Worker

2 months ago

Trowbridge, United Kingdom Wiltshire Council Full time

Job summary

Kinship & Fostering - Empowering Young Lives

Our OUTSTANDING Children's Services would like to welcome a Social Worker with substantive social work experience to join our Countywide Kinship and Fostering team. We value our staff and take pride in offering social workers and support workers in the service diverse training opportunities, including participation in DDP-led peer reflection groups and engagement in cross-functional projects with other Children's Services.

Kinship is a specialised service within our broader team, that focuses on supporting special guardians, connected person foster care, and private fostering arrangements. Here, you'll become part of a dedicated team of professionals who are genuinely passionate about the service they provide and its impact on the lives of children who require care.

Main duties of the job

Your role will involve assessing foster care applicants, special guardianship, and connected persons, as well as supporting these individuals. Collaborating with colleagues and services, and offering a trauma informed approach, your work will enhance placement quality, stability, and support for caregivers.

You should bring prior experience in Children's services, particularly in Kinship or Fostering, along with an expertise in conducting complex assessments and a strong background in safeguarding. Furthermore, a proven track record of both professional and personal development is desired.

You will also have the opportunity to opt in to our 'out-of-hours' phone support as part of the 'paid rota.

About us

We work as One Council public servants building strong, thriving communities. An inclusive workforce, we innovate and collaborate, facing challenges head-on. We are also an agile, high-performing organisation, rewarding achievement and effort. We work for the best outcomes for communities, making a difference daily.

We want everyone to reach their potential. Whatever your role, you can grow and develop skills for the future. With heavy investment in technology, we support flexible working. And by embedding carbon reduction and climate resilience into our culture, we aim to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Job description

Job responsibilities

To manage the Reviewing process for all foster carers, Supported Lodgings carers, Short break care and Connected Persons.

To participate in the fostering service duty system in order to manage placement requests and to match children requiring foster placement to suitable carers.

To work alongside colleagues to deliver effective assessment of and support and training to foster carers in order to increase capacity, quality and stability of foster placements and develop and retain foster carers.

To be Primary worker with case responsibility for Children in Need, Children Looked after and when appropriate Children in need of Protection depending on the function of the dedicated team.

To operate within the Council policy and regularly updates themselves with social work methods, practice developments, new legislation and procedures, including the Childrens Act 2004, Every Child Matters and Care matters agenda.

To be responsible for the day to day interpretation of and implementation of statutory duties and departmental policy and procedures in the provision of services to children and young people.

To be allocated work from the Team Manager or any person delegated to act on their behalf based on the implementation of eligibility criteria and to hold case management responsibility for this work.

To investigate and assess, the needs of and risks to vulnerable children and young people in a timely manner giving due consideration to the wishes and opinions of the child and the childs family. This will include the completion of S47 investigations, Initial and Core Assessments and interviewing service users and other relevant persons in the office, their homes or any other suitable venue hospital, school etc.

To take appropriate action to minimise any identified concern or risk to children/young people in accordance with the requirements and timescales of the Assessment Framework, Child Protection procedures and Looked after Children legislation and procedures.

To draw up and implement, with the child/young person and their family/carers, an appropriate action plan to address identified issues and to maximise the participation of service users and carers in this process ensuring that social work intervention is only ongoing when necessary in peoples lives.

To carry out regular reviews of individual plans, record outcomes and formulate revised plans based on those reviews which are outcome focused.

To convene meetings Core groups to assist in the implementation and review of plans for vulnerable children.

To write reports for Child Protection Conferences, Planning Meetings, Looked after Children reviews, Legal meetings and Court Hearings and attend these as appropriate within the dedicated teams function.

To have a creative approach to meeting need and to ensure local provision, wherever possible, in order to meet identified need within available resources.

To have a clear understanding of and ability to manage within financial constraints in service delivery.

To work proactively and in partnership with other agencies to plan and deliver coordinated services to children, young people and their families/carers which promotes and focuses on positive outcomes. To maintain accurate and effective electronic recording of information and action taken in the course of their casework.

To understand the need for and contribute to the achievement of team and departmental performance targets in order to achieve positive outcomes for children and young people.

To maintain confidentiality of information acquired in the course of undertaking duties for the department whilst operating in the fullest cooperation with other agencies to ensure that children are appropriately safeguarded.

To contribute to team processes in a positive and appropriate manner, by attending team meetings and undertaking any necessary and appropriate team duties.

To make an active contribution to the development of service delivery through the sharing of knowledge, information and skills.

To take responsibility for own professional development through the utilisation of relevant practice research/developments, legislation, participative supervision and appraisal processes.

To undertake further training which is consistent with the individual and the organisation, as negotiated with the manager.

To work within an equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory framework. Value diversity within the team and in contact with other professionals, children, young people and families

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Professional Social Work qualification. Social Work England registered. Have up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance in relation to working with, and the protection of, children and young people. Thorough understanding of the needs of children in care. Knowledge of Fostering Services Regulations (England) 2011, Fostering Services National Minimum Standards and associated guidance. Up to date knowledge of key child care legislation, policies and practices central to the implementation of a professional social work service on behalf of the council. Knowledge of Every Child Matters, the five outcomes and shared processes. Knowledge and ability to put into practice a range of theories, models and interventions and to assess impact for the service user. Knowledge of assessment processes including the contribution provided by other agencies, timescales and their impact on council and Government performance targets and indicators. Post qualifying experience of direct work with children, young people and families. Experience of working with children in care, their families and foster carers. Experience of foster care and family placement work. Experience of completing assessments, reports and plans for children identified as vulnerable and in need. Proven record of challenging poor performance and evidence of improving performance. Ability to give objective timely advice. Knowledge and evidence of assessment skills, including engaging with users of services, other professionals and agencies to achieve a holistic assessment. Excellent report writing skills. Proven organisational skills, including the ability to prioritise work, manage own time effectively and meet deadlines. Ability to keep accurate electronic records. Ability to contribute positively to the social work team and department. Takes responsibility for own professional development and commitment to evidenced based practice. Good IT skills. Ability to manage competing demands of a caseload. Effective communication skills, both verbal and written with colleagues, outside agencies and service users. Ability to identify problems with some complexity and to demonstrate creative approach to such problems. Ability to develop and maintain effective professional relationships within and outside the department. Ability to produce reports to required standard on time. Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Desirable

A post qualifying award in Social Work. A Practice Teachers Award. Training qualification. Experience of delivering training. Experience of assessment of foster carers or adopters. Experience of supervision. Experience of staff/students supervision or consultation. Supervision skills.

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