Job Introduction
Are you passionate about making a positive difference in the lives of children and young people? Staffordshire County Council is looking for a dedicated and enthusiastic Social Worker to join our East Fostering Support and Supervision Team on a fixed-term basis.
This is a rewarding opportunity to work alongside foster carers, children, young people, and partner agencies to promote positive outcomes and provide stable, nurturing family environments for children in care. You will play a key role in supporting and supervising foster carers, helping them develop their skills and confidence while ensuring children receive the highest standard of care.
Working within a supportive and experienced team, you will undertake foster carer supervision, contribute to foster carer reviews, provide guidance and support through challenging situations, and work collaboratively to identify and meet the needs of children and young people. You will be committed to building positive relationships, promoting placement stability, and maintaining a child-centred approach in all aspects of your practice.
This fixed-term role offers an excellent opportunity to develop your fostering experience within a well-established and supportive service. Whether you are looking to broaden your skills or bring your existing fostering expertise to a new challenge, you will be joining a team that values collaboration, relationship-based practice, and continuous professional development.
At Staffordshire County Council, we are committed to supporting our workforce through regular supervision, learning opportunities, and a strong culture of reflective practice. We are proud of our restorative and strengths-based approach and are looking for a Social Worker who shares our commitment to achieving the best possible outcomes for children and foster families.
If you are an enthusiastic Social Worker who is motivated to support foster carers and improve the lives of children in care, we would love to hear from you.
Main Responsibility
You will be:
- undertaking regular supervision, support, and unannounced visits to a variety of approved foster carers including mainstream and family and friend’s foster carers.
- also undertake fostering assessments in relation to changes of approval, long-term fostering assessments and foster carer annual reviews.
- close liaison is maintained with 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
- Registered with Social Work England.
- Have a current UK driving licence and vehicle.
Demonstrate a commitment to continuous professional development
Experience of working in a fostering role is desirable, but not essential.
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 Emma Luckman at emma.luckman@staffordshire.gov.uk
Interviews will be held on week commencing 5th October 2026
“We’re happy to talk flexible working”
Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.
For information, please note that there is currently an ongoing review within Children and Families to realign individual teams and the wider team’s ways of working. As a result, this role may be affected by the review. For further information, please speak to the hiring manager.
Please note: The minimum criteria in the ideal candidate section detailed above will be used if you are applying under one of our Interview Guarantee Schemes detailed below.
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.
