Job Introduction
Do you have a background working with vulnerable young people? Are you a professional working in police, probation, teaching, social services or other similar professions looking for a change of career? Then resilience fostering might be just what you are looking for.
Resilience foster carers move children as young as 7 years old from residential care into their home where they are intensively supported.
We currently have 11 children living in residential care who are ready to move into a fostering family home.
Main Responsibility
Resilience Foster Carers offer long term homes to children who currently live in a residential home or are at risk of entering one.
As a foster carer you would focus on supporting a child aged between 8-17 years old to move from residential care into your home.
You need to be able to care for the child full-time in your own home and transport them to and from school or college and attend meetings with professionals who support the child.
The Ideal Candidate
Who can be a Resilience Foster Carer
You will need significant experience of working with vulnerable children who have challenging behaviours or emotional difficulties . Preferably with a background within one of the following sectors; Social Work, Teaching, Police, Probation, Residential Children's Care or Youth Work.
- You must have a spare bedroom and no children under the age of 16 living in the household.
- At least one carer needs to be available full-time for the young person.
- Must be a UK resident and have a driving licence.
- Solo applicants are welcomed.
Benefits of being a Resilience Foster Carer
- You will have the opportunity to continue to professionally develop in your career with our specialist tailored training package.
- You’ll have your own Fostering Social Worker who will be there to supervise, support and advise you.
- You will have an experienced foster carer who will act as your mentor and can support you out of hours.
- A specialist Residential to Fostering senior support worker to support you and your young person pre and post transition,
- A dedicated Resilience Fostering Support Group who meet monthly.
- Built in, regular, planned short breaks with a matched specialist carer.
- You will be part of a multi-disciplinary team around the young person and will be committed to attending regular monthly resilience professional’s meetings to ensure placement support is proactive.
- You will have a Psychological Assessment to support with the matching process.
- You will have carefully planned introductions.
- Your payment begins at point of approval and covers the matching and introduction period. This fee is retained to ensure you are financially protected should a placement need to end, eg) a young person is able to return home.
- out of hours support 365 days a year from our Emergency Duty Service
- Free membership to the Fostering Network which provides independent advice, legal insurance, tax benefit and NI advice, financial advice and discounts.
- Paid Mileage
Please note that as a foster carer you would be self-employed.
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 Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire
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 Gold 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.
