Fostering Social Worker

Job responsibilities

Specific duties and responsibilities include:

To manage a complex caseload within the family Placement Team including foster carers, Supported Lodgings carers, Short break care and Connected Persons, taking responsibility for specific aspects of supporting the team and colleagues.

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.

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, Single Assessments and interviewing service users and other relevant persons in the office, their homes or any other suitable venue e.g. 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 e.g. 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.

Qualifications

Essential

• SW degree ,Dip SW, CQSW or equivalent.
• Social Work England registered.
• 2 years post-qualifying with children and families.
• Experience of fostering and or work with children looked after.
• Driving licence.
• Proven knowledge of legislation/ regulations relating to fostering and fostering services.
• Commitment to continuous professional development.
• Proven knowledge of looked after children, fostering and adoption procedures and an excellent awareness of the issues that are relevant to children who are looked after/adopted.
• Experience of effective work within the legal time framework, including court proceedings.
• Up-to-date knowledge of child care legislation and an ability to apply relevant legal, related guidance and procedures.
• Knowledge of every child matters, the five out comes, shared practice and relevance to fostering practice.
• Sound grasp of childcare law and good practice/procedures.
• Familiarity with childcare and safeguarding procedures/ timescales/required and performance.
• Thorough understanding of the needs of looked after children.
• Assessment skills.
• Well-developed Inter-personal skills, including the ability to work through others.
• Excellent report-writing skills.
• Proven organisational skills.
• Evidence of assessment skills, including engaging with users of agencies to achieve a holistic assessment.
• Proven organisational skills, including the ability to prioritise work and set priorities.
• Ability to assess and analyse risk.
• Ability to assimilate information quickly in order to reach decisions and judgements in respect of interventions and workload priorities.
• Ability to analyse complex presenting problems.
• Ability to keep accurate records.
• Takes responsibility for own professional development and commitments to evidenced based practice.
• Ability to champion the needs of looked after and adopted children to improve their outcomes.
• Energy, resilience, humour determination and the ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to maintain a collaborative style of working.
• Proven ability to communicate with children, young people and parents/carers.
• Displays a commitment to the protection and safeguarding of children and young people.
• Understanding of and commitment to the principles of practices of equal opportunities, both in relation to employment issues and to service delivery.
• Commitment to continuous improvement, delivery of best value and achievement of service
• objectives.
• Ability to communicate effectively with people, both listening and in verbal and written presentation.
• Child-focused.
• Able to work under pressure.
• Understanding of the impact and importance of an anti-discriminatory perspective in all aspects of the work.
• Values the individual, calm, respectful, articulate
• Good IT skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Desirable

• Further training in child care/family.
• Experience of family placement work.
• Experience of training, supervision of adopters and /or students.
• Knowledge of fostering legislation and regulations and guidance.
• Any specialist knowledge e.g. behaviour management techniques/attachment etc.
• Court work skills.
• Group work skills.
• Training experience.
• Direct work skills.
• Knowledge of adoption community and services.
• Supervision skills.
• Co-working experience.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).