Location: Sheffield Salary: £15,474.41 - £17,881.54 per annum depending on experience (£25,790.69 - £29,802.57 per annum FTE) Hours: Full Time - 22.5 hours per week (Days and working pattern to be agreed but must include working on a Monday) Closing Date: 15 April 2024 Based at: Sheffield (Unit 3 & 4, Shepcote Village, Sheffield, S9 1TG)
(Please note we do not operate a performance related reward system or automatic incremental payments.) The main office base will be Sheffield with a requirement to travel occasionally to our East Midlands and North East office locations. We offer hybrid working which includes a blend of home and office working with a minimum of one day per week in our office. Team Fostering is an ethical (not for profit) independent fostering agency with a strong reputation for providing high quality, value for money foster care for looked after children. We pride ourselves on our values and behaviours and we expect our staff to commit to and demonstrate these in their everyday work. We are looking for a motivated and enthusiastic Training Co-ordinator to join our successful fostering agency. The post holder will support the Training Manager and contribute to the development, co-ordination and delivery of mandatory and non-mandatory training to Foster families across the Agency, promoting a high standard of care for children and young people. The successful candidate will have excellent inter-personal skills and relevant qualifications in administration/information technology. They will also need to be competent in the operational use of remote platforms TEAMS/ZOOM. Experience of working within a diverse adult group is essential, together with an ability to always maintain confidentiality. Experience of working for a fostering service would be desirable. The successful candidate must have a full driving licence and access to a car for work. A willingness to travel to other office locations and the ability to work flexibly, including occasional weekends is also essential. Further details and application documents can be found here Sarah & Levi* reached a HUGE 10 years of fostering with The Children’s Family Trust. In order to celebrate the milestone and their incredible longevity, we gave them the keys to the website and asked them to blog exactly how fostering has developed, and any words of encouragement for those experiencing difficulties or struggling to make the first steps. We have been with CFT for 10 years now, our journey has taken many twists and turns over the years. The Pandemic was especially crazy in our household like many other across the world. Myself and Levi looked into fostering because we just wanted to help, that was it. The more children we could help the better. We saw CFT along with many other fostering agencies at Birmingham Pride. What they stood for and the fact that CFT is a Charity really stood out to us both. Witnessing the Trust grow and change over the years has helped us as well as many other fostering families grow too. Currently, we have one child in a long term placement with us, and we’re currently going through the “staying put” process now. Our lives have totally changed since being with CFT. It has been challenging however it has also been extremely fulfilling and enjoyable. The fact we have an amazing young person with us to share our journey is a bonus. We would highly recommend CFT to anyone who wants to foster or even just looking into it at the moment. Our advice to those thinking about becoming foster carers: Training – Attend as many training course as you can. Even if you dont have a child/ren in your care at that point. This is a fantastic opportunity for you to ask questions and speak to other carers, this will prepare you for when you do have a child/ren in your care. Champion Individuality – All children are different, what works for one child won’t work for another. It sounds simple iI know but simplicity is key. Utilise Available Support – Ask for help if you need it, what ever form that takes. Your Supervising Social Worker is there for this exact reason (as well as everything else they do too). The Application Process – The Form F is a very detailed application form that everyone has to do. It was for us, very thought provoking. This process will probably make you question some of your up bringing and also what sort of parent or carer you what to be. It won’t be the last time you question things as every training course you do will also have this effect in some way. Embrace the ability to look at something and think differently about it or look for something that can be changed moving forward. Be an Effective Advocate – Finally, the most important piece of advise we can give anyone is to listen to the child/ren in your care. You are their voice in meetings of any sort when they don’t have a voice / haven’t found it yet or don’t think anyone will listen. You are the one constant in their life that no matter what will fight for them and will be there as their safety net if they fall. In a lot of cases you are also going to be the person that shows them what a family is and how it feels, embrace this as a whole. It is hard to begin with and can be energy draining, it is also the best and most fulfilling feeling in the world. *Names have been changed to protect our carers identities. Source: thecft.org.uk/case-studies Location: Barnardo's Fostering West Midlands Salary: £42,640 - £57,200 FTE plus £312 Office at Home Allowance Contract type: Permanent Hours: 37 Closing Date: 13 April 2024 Interview Date: TBC Are you passionate about making a difference to Children's lives?
Barnardo's is a leading children's charity, and our Family Placement Service has a well-deserved reputation for providing high quality foster placements. We are looking for a dynamic and dedicated Operations Manager to join us on a full time, permanent contract at our busy fostering service in the Midlands. This is an exciting opportunity to join an experienced and well-established family placement team providing high quality support to foster carers, careful matching of children and placement stability. Would you like to be involved in driving the growth and expansion of this model? As an Operations Manager, you will work alongside the Midlands Fostering Families Service and Assistant Head of Business undertaking specific management duties associated with the running of a diverse family placement service, playing a key role in the success of our fostering services. In particular you will work hard to ensure that every child entrusted to our care is kept safe and is given every opportunity to blossom and achieve great outcomes in line with the promise. You will be an approachable, innovative, and creative individual, with sufficient experience at a senior management level. You will be passionate about change, evidence a strong value base in line with Barnardo's values and behaviours, and be confident in your own knowledge and the ability to give advice to others. You must hold a Social work qualification ( Diploma/ BA/ or equivalent) please. Some but not all of the key responsibilities of an Operations Manager include:
You will be a qualified and registered social worker and will be subject to a DBS check. Further details and application documents here Location: Homebased including travel to East, North and West London, Essex and Hertfordshire. Salary: £42,725 (£35,893 p.a. + £750 Home Working Allowance p.a. + £2,000 Out of Hours Allowance + £4082 p.a. London Weighting if eligible) Hours: 35 Hours Per Week Closing Date: 14/04/2024 Interview Date: 22/04/2024 As a ‘not for profit’ organisation, TACT puts the needs of our children and carers first and look to appoint individuals who are as passionate about fostering as we are. We are a homeworking organisation, and we pride ourselves on our flexible working opportunities, available from day one, an extensive wellbeing programme and our benefits package, all curated to nurture a healthy work life balance for all our employees so they can give an excellent service to our carers and the young people and children we care for.
As a foster care charity, TACT invests all surplus income into services, staff, carers, and child development. This means that we have been able to invest unique projects like TACT Connect, our unique and ground-breaking scheme for TACT care experienced young people and adults, as well as our expanding TACT Education Service and our new Health Service. All our activities are built on our commitment to becoming a fully trauma informed organisation, in line with our key values and ethos. TACT achieved 16th place in the UK Best Companies Work For survey results in 2023, with 91% of employees acknowledging that the organisation is run on strong values and principles and 94% stating they feel proud to work for this organisation. This is an exciting opportunity for a Senior Supervising Social Worker to join the passionate TACT East London Team. The successful candidate will be a homebased Senior Supervising Social Worker who will be required to travel to face-to-face meetings across the regional area and also attend in person team meetings at least once a month. Other opportunities for other in person events includes training, team wellbeing days, and children and foster carer focussed events. If you want to be valued as a professional, be appreciated at work and contribute to better outcomes for the children and young people connected with TACT, apply now. Overall Duties of the Senior Supervising Social Worker will include:
Further details and application documents here We are looking for two Supervising Social Workers to join our lively team! One in Essex which is a 4-day week post and the other in Kent which is a 3-day week post. Excellent package and support provided. The successful candidate will be a qualified Social Worker with a background in children's services/fostering. They will be passionate about making a difference to the lives of children and supporting foster families. The closing date for applications is 19th April 2024. For an informal chat please contact us and speak to our manager Rebecca Askew, or if you would like an application form, please email our Admin Manager - amyansell@kasperfostering.org or call us on 01227 275 985. Kasper Fostering follow safer recruitment practices and all applicants are subject to enhanced DBS and other safeguarding checks. All references are verified prior to engagement. The safeguarding of our children and families is our priority. Source: www.kasperfostering.org/ This month’s blog is a take-over by our Director of Operations on the Isle of Man Anne Seed. Anne also chairs the EDI focus group, made up of members of staff from across the charity and provides an overview of the work undertaken to date… At St Christopher`s we are aspiring to become an ever increasingly inclusive organisation where diversity in all its forms is recognised and celebrated, whilst discrimination and oppression is identified and tackled. Values drive behaviours, and behaviours drive culture. We are on a journey at the charity in relation to EDI and we are learning all the time. We want to ensure that equality is embedded in all of our activities and policies. We want to create a sense of belonging at St Christopher’s to attract and retain talented people. Crucially we want to hear everyone`s voice and respond to their needs. Our EDI strategy was approved by Trustees in November 2022 with a 3 year implementation plan and our EDI pledge was debuted to all staff members for sign up by Zero Discrimination Day on 1st March 2023. Our EDI Project Board has been established at a senior level in the organisation to lead on the strategy and our associated EDI Focus Group (made up of managers and staff members) takes responsibility for how the strategy can and will be implemented. The focus group and project board work alongside each other and there is a two way communication process. The EDI Focus Group meets every month for 2 hours (protected time) and advises the project board on aspects of the strategy. We are almost at the end of year 1 of the implementation plan and this year the group have been addressing communication and engagement in a variety of ways. They are committed to working with any staff members who identify with one or more of the protected characteristics within the Equality Act. The group have been instrumental in the production of a variety of great initiatives and actions. These include the pledge, a review of our paternity policy and implementation of a menopause policy. Similarly the group has shown commitment and sought out learning to support, working with transgender young people, celebrating black history month, the charity being accredited as a disability confident employer. We have also made inroads in creating support/network groups that are our people want, as well as feeding in to the charity’s inclusivity priority in the next 5 year strategic plan. Resources and information are shared on our intranet to enable any staff member to have access and utilise them. Our EDI focus group members also make themselves available for anyone wishing to share any issues, concerns or comments or to ask the group to have a discussion about a relevant EDI matter that is important. In year 2 starting in April, we will be continuing our work we have already started in year 1 as well as looking at the objectives in the implementation plan for year 2 around training and continuous learning. The group will be celebrating pride month and Black history month as well as raising awareness, with the assistance of our communications team, around other important EDI events happening throughout the year. We want to develop more focus on young people and how to involve them i.e. how we introduce EDI to children and young people when they move into a home or service, the language we use, the literature they are given. With this, we will be tackling the issue of how to support managers and staff members when young people make discriminatory remarks/comments and help make them more aware of the impact they are having and educate their views. We are encouraged by the organisation’s commitment to EDI and will continue to strive towards an inclusive and welcoming place to work, as well as a nurturing and supporting environment for the children and young people in our care. Source: www.stchris.org.uk/ Salary: £36000 per annum Location: Hybrid - Exeter Devon homebased with travel across the South West. Contract Type: Permanent Full Time Closing Date: 9 April 2024 Circa Salary: £36,400 per annum plus allowance for Out of Hours rota
Contract/Hours: Permanent Full-time 37 hours per week. Benefits:
Vulnerable children in the UK need your help. Wherever you work in the Action for Children family, you'll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK. Last year, we helped more than 671,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive. Why Action for Children? Working here is more than a job. Everyone in the Action for Children family is passionate about protecting and supporting children. It's the sense of purpose that drives us every single day. Because we know that, when we work together, we can make a huge difference to bring lasting improvements to vulnerable children's lives. A bit about the role Action for Children Fostering Southwest Peninsula and Family Breaks Devon seek to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children and young people in society by the provision of safe, secure, and successful foster homes including short breaks for children with additional needs. We also offer the highest standard of care - providing foster families with excellent training, supervision, and support to achieve the best outcomes for the young people we look after. We strive to provide a good quality of care to young people, always ensuring they are at the centre of our approach. We offer a therapeutic framework. Carers and staff have access to skilled psychologists with specialist knowledge of the needs of looked-after children. We are looking for an outstanding Fostering Social Worker who can support carers from the Devon/Somerset borders to Cornwall - so flexibility to travel across this cluster as and when needed is imperative for this role. You will also have the opportunity to assess applicants to foster. Participation in an out-of-hours telephone support service for carers is an expectation of this role. How you'll help to create brighter futures.
Further details and application documents here The number of initial enquiries from potential foster carers in England has fallen to its lowest level in five years. According to latest figures from the Department for Education, 125,195 initial applications were received by local authorities and independent foster agencies in 2022/23. This is the lowest number of applications to become mainstream foster carers – which excludes family and friends foster carers - since current recording began in 2017/18, the statistics show. A peak in initial enquiries was seen in 2020/21 when 160,635 were received. In 2022/23, local authorities received around a quarter of the number of initial enquiries received by independent foster agencies which had 99, 375 enquiries. Of applications received by independent foster agencies and local authorities in 2022/23, 3,680 were accepted. Meanwhile, in the same year more households deregistered (5,125) than were approved (4,080). There were 275 households that were both approved and deregistered within the same year. “The largest proportion of newly approved carers in 2022 to 2023 were in their 40s and 50s. “Of the carers who deregistered this year, the highest proportion were aged 50 or over, at 64%. Those aged 60 or over made up 30%. “These proportions have remained similar for the 4 years that we have collected data on carers’ ages,” the report states. At the end of March 2023, there were 43,405 fostering households in England, including family and friends foster carers. Source: www.cypnow.co.uk Location: Barnardo's Fostering and Adoption NI Salary: £35,360 - £47,320 + £312 Office at Home Allowance per annum Contract type: Permanent Hours: 37 Closing Date: 8 April 2024 Interview Date: TBC We have an exciting opportunity for a Social Worker to join us within the Barnardo's Fostering and Adoption Service Northern Ireland team.
Objectives of the Service: The primary aim of Barnardo's Fostering and Adoption NI is to provide the highest quality placements for children and young people who cannot live with their birth families, striving to ensure that Barnardo's strategic aims to achieve safer childhoods, stronger families and positive futures are realised for every child with whom we work. Working Hours: Monday to Friday (37 hours per week) Location: 230b Belmont Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT4 2AW This is a hybrid working role – We place value on colleagues spending time together at our office base on a regular basis, with flexibility to work from home for part of the week. Some of the Key responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Essential requirements to clearly evidence in your written application:
Further details and application documents here Team Fostering is a not for profit fostering Agency, with an annual turnover of £9m, based in the North East, Yorkshire and the East Midlands. We have been successfully supporting children and young people living in foster care to achieve positive outcomes since 2001. We are looking for a third Non-Executive Director, based within this geographical footprint, who has an extensive background in business management in a commercial environment with demonstrable recent success in developing a business with a multi-million pound turnover and proven skills in delivering excellence in customer satisfaction. This person must also be able to work within our values and behaviours framework, demonstrating an understanding of our Not for Profit status and subscribe to our principles of working as an ethical agency. This successful candidate will also provide a creative contribution to the Board via objective criticism and independent judgement on issues of strategy, performance and resourcing of the Agency, including involvement in key appointments and standards of conduct. The post holder will be independent of any of the company’s interested parties and bring a degree of objectivity and impartiality to the Board’s deliberations and play a valuable role monitoring executive management. This is a part time role requiring, as a minimum, 30 day’s work per year and a minimum of 1.5 days worked each month equating to £15,243.75 per annum. Part of this monthly commitment is attendance at a monthly Board meeting which will be held in either our North Shields, Middlesbrough, Sheffield or South Normanton, Derbyshire office. An annual retainer of £3,774.60 is also paid and other responsibilities and pieces of work taken on, at the direction of the Board, are paid at an hourly rate of £67.75. Please note Team Fostering does not accept CVs. The closing date for application for this role is 9.00 am on Monday 8 April 2024. For further information, please contact Mark Alden, Board Chair & Non- Executive Director on 07483 262208. All posts are subject to Enhanced DBS Disclosure Please note if you are shortlisted for interview we will contact you via the email you have provided. Please ensure you check your emails regularly. Full details and application documents here |
News & JobsNews stories and job vacancies from our member agencies, the fostering sector and the world of child protection and safeguarding as a whole. Browse Categories
All
|