Job Introduction
Staffordshire has a strong commitment to providing quality foster placements for our children in care. We are also committed to ongoing development and innovation.
The Fostering South Team provides support and supervision to foster carers predominantly residing in the South of Staffordshire with some out of county commitments for approved Family & Friends carers.
Main Responsibility
The Fostering South is a stable team and has the benefit of experienced staff with a wealth of social work knowledge and skills. Your duties will include undertaking regular supervision, support, and unannounced visits to a variety of approved foster carers. This will include mainstream and family and friend’s foster carers. You will also undertake fostering assessments in relation to changes of approval, SGO, long-term fostering assessments and foster carer annual reviews.
The fostering service has a commitment to the stability of placements, safeguarding children and promoting capacity to provide sufficient placements to meet the needs of children in our care. You will support these commitments in your role. Close liaison is maintained with the children’s teams and others involved in the team around fostered children to ensure good outcomes for children.
The Ideal Candidate
You’ll need to be a:
- Qualified Social Worker with an understanding of fostering
- Registered with Social Work England.
- Have a current UK driving licence and vehicle.
Above all, you’ll bring the desire to work with children and families to give them the right support, at the right time with the aim of keeping families together where it’s safe to do so.
For further information about this role, please contact Susan Prendergast on sue.prendergast@staffordshire.gov.uk
About Staffordshire County Council
We are no ordinary county council:
Our Values:
The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.
Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:
We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.
We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.
Our benefits:
We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.
In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to a range of benefits.
Our recruitment process:
As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities
As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Silver Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.
As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.