About us...
At Together Trust we believe everybody deserves an equal chance in life. There are no exceptions. We provide a wide range of support services including fostering, residential, community and family support. We also provide specialist educational support through our schools and colleges.

At Together Trust we’re committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the people we support. It’s a commitment we require from all of our staff and volunteers.

We follow a robust safer recruitment process and all successful applicants will go through recruitment checks. If you’re successful we’ll need you to have an enhanced DBS check. For all roles we’ll also need a minimum of three references. Depending on the role you apply for, we might also need to request references from each employer where you have worked with young people or vulnerable adults.

We’ll also need to know about any breaks in your employment history with evidence from documents like birth certificates or passports. If you’re successful and have worked outside the UK for any longer than three months in the last five years, we’d also need to complete a foreign DBS or code of conduct check.

We now have an opportunity for a senior support worker to join the team at our specialist short breaks service in Romiley, Stockport.

As our senior support worker you will...
As a qualified member of staff you will key work young people, work closely with the management team, supervise other residential staff and lead shifts.

Residential Support Workers will be actively involved working closely with families and other professionals around the children we support including education staff, healthcare professional, You will attend healthcare appointments, reviews for the young people and take part in team meetings. You will communicate effectively with parents and carers, be responsible for administration of medication, daily reporting and personal care within morning and evening routines. A number of the young people we support may need assistance with all aspects of personal care, such as bathing and toileting, getting dressed. Some others require encouragement and support to be able to become more independent.

Benefits

• Certified Training
• Company Pension
• Competitive Salary
• Death in Service
• Flexible Working
• Full Training Programme
• Generous Holiday
• Great Working Environment
• Progression Opportunities
• Recognised Qualifications

​About You...
You are caring, passionate, positive, professional and supportive – looking to make a real difference in children and young people’s lives. Experience in a similar role is crucial, and you must be looking for a challenging and rewarding role and a have a genuine interest in developing your skills through the training we offer.

You must have a QCF Level 3 in working with children and young people or equivalent to apply for this post (Residential Childcare level 3 /social work degree)

As the team provide 24/7 support, you will need to be flexible and willing to work shifts on a rota basis over a day 7 period, due to the nature of this role you may occasionally be required to take part in sleep over shifts, these are paid in addition to the 37.5 hours at a rate of £62.64 and are not included in the 37.5 hours advertised.

Candidates with a full, clean driving license are encouraged to apply. You must be over 21 years of age to apply for this role due to the age range of the young people in the service. (These roles are exempt from the Employment Equality (Age) Regulation 2006).

Full details and application documents here

We have an exciting opportunity in our Policy and Campaigns team. Do you have what it takes to develop policy research for the UK's largest children's charity that will transform the lives of the most vulnerable children and young people

Barnardo's Policy & Campaigns Team aims to improve the lives of children through influencing public policy and practice. We use evidence based policy research and analysis to campaign and lobby across Government and through the media. We are driven by a relentless determination to effect positive sustained change.

Bringing proven experience of research methods including direct engagement with vulnerable groups, you will play a pivotal role in informing policy initiatives from evidence based research.  You will need an understanding of the Westminster policy context on a range of issues impacting on the most vulnerable children, The ability to communicate your findings to a range of audiences is also important, together with strong report writing and team working skills. 

About Barnardo's
At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Barnardo's is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and male candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo's.
​
Our basis and values

Full details and application documents here

Peninsula and Islands (Devon, Cornwall, Plymouth, Torbay, Channel Islands)

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Children's Services leader to help shape and support our regional strategy. We are looking for an individual who is willing to get fully involved in supporting staff to deliver our current services and growth opportunities alongside playing an intrinsic part within the regional Senior Management Team to deliver an ambitious development programme to enable us to work with even more children and young people over the coming years. We are looking for someone with great interpersonal skills combined with excellent leadership and management capacity, with a passion to improve the lives of our most vulnerable children and young people - is this you?

You will be based and working in our Peninsula locality, where we are a key stakeholder and have a strong history.

At Barnardo's, our purpose is to transform the lives of the UK's most vulnerable children and our vision is to realise Thomas Barnardo's dream of a world where no child is turned away from the help that they need.  We believe in children - no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Our basis and values
Barnardo's is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and male candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo's.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.  Our safer recruitment processes mean that the safety and welfare of the child is paramount at every stage of the process and therefore, we adopt rigorous scrutiny in our pre-employment checking. This post is subject to a range of pre-employment checks including a Criminal Records Enhanced Disclosure for the successful candidate.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

Closing date: 23rd August 2019.

Barnardo's Registered Charity Nos 216250 and SC037605.

About Barnardo's
At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Barnardo's is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and male candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo's.

Our basis and values

Full details and application documents here

The role
We are looking for a Fostering Social Worker to join our team working 37 hours a week. This will be mainly Monday to Friday during the day but there will be some flexibility required to meet the needs of the service.

We are a small, developing fostering service, located in Doncaster but covering the Yorkshire and Humber area.

You will be responsible for providing support to foster placements.  Fostering experience and knowledge of fostering regulations is essential for this position.  You will be part of a small team and will have had exposure to managing multi agency partnerships.  This position also requires a strong understanding of the therapeutic model including PACE.

Our team consists of social workers, and referral officers We also work in partnership with Chrysalis psychology services who support our therapeutic work with children and young people.

The team including foster carers are trained to a high standard; understanding attachment and trauma work along with specific interventions.

The difference
What is the role?
By providing professional supervision and developmental support, including advice and guidance to fostering families and colleagues from other agencies where appropriate, including being part of an Out of Hours Service (through participation in rota) providing support 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year.  

The successful applicant will be  part of an aspirational fostering team of Social Workers. You will be expected to uphold the core values and beliefs of the organisation, ensuring that children, young people and foster carers receive a high-quality service and that commissioners' expectations and contractual requirements are met. This will be instilled through effective day to day delivery of a high quality fostering service. 

What will you need?

• A Diploma in Social Work or equivalent
• Current HCPC registration
• Supervisory experience in a regulatory environment 
• Ability to keep the service regulatory safe
• Strong ethos of keeping the child at the centre
• Strong sense of ability to support therapeutic needs of children
• A stable career history and experience of fostering services
• Access to a vehicle due to being required to travel across Yorkshire and The Humber area is essential.

What are the rewards?

• Minimum 29 days' holiday plus bank holidays
• Flexible working, including maternity, paternity and adoption packages
• Season ticket travel loans
• Company pension scheme, up to 7% employer match
• Ability to buy and sell holiday
• Discounts at major high street retailers. 
• Plus, there's a lot more besides.

How does Action for Children work?
Action for Children does what's right, does what's needed and does what works for children across the UK. Every year, our team changes the lives of 301,000 children, young people and their families – but for every child who needs help to get help, there's plenty more to do. That's where you come in.

If you really want to make a difference and be a part of an amazing team, don't hesitate, apply now!

For more information or a confidential chat, please call Paul Goodwin on 07590 417119.

We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users, therefore all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best-practice.

Action for Children is passionate about promoting equality, valuing diversity and working inclusively. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons particularly people with Disabilities and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic applicants, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.

Full details and application documents here

These Three Words, by Jess van der Hoach, has been praised recently in the fostering sector for the way it links together the feelings, emotions and behaviours associated with anxiety, with some of the therapeutic tools that can be used in order to enable better self-regulation, increased confidence and different ways of thinking.

Jenny*, a young person in care with Team Fostering, recently read the book and praised it highly. She has put together the below book review.

'Why I enjoyed These Three Words'

Written by Jenny*, aged 12

'The story is about a girl called Luna Ray with anxiety, which is unusual because you don’t find many books like it. Luna is a teenager who has been through a lot but doesn’t understand. My favourite character was Luna’s mother, but she thought Luna was just a ‘normal typical teenager’. During the story Luna starts to overcome her anxiety.

I think the writer wanted to tell this story because she wrote it for her daughter and I think she must have anxiety. The book made me feel like Luna, the main character, was discovering something new and different techniques, it made me feel inspired. It made me think about how anxiety works and it taught me a few good things.

It was a good story because it helps people with anxiety and teaches ways to reground yourself, because not all people can get counsellors.

I think it is important to say that the book helped me think about my anxiety. I would recommend this book because it’s helpful and it works to help people like Luna and I.'

Team Fostering is committed to working with children and young people to overcome any challenges they are facing, and it's great to hear of books like this that just remind children that they aren't alone in their challenges. 

We are an ethical, not-for-profit agency with a strong mission statement of 'Putting Children's Futures First.'

We continue to recruit foster carers who share our values, offering our carers comprehensive support, innovative training and competitive fees.

If you're interested in joining Team Fostering we would be delighted to hear from you, whether you have or haven't fostered before.

You can reach us in the following ways:

send an online enquiry by clicking here
email us via info@teamfostering.co.uk
call us on 0800 292 2003
 
*name amended

Source:
www.teamfostering.co.uk

Fostering is an extremely rewarding role, but is not without its challenges. Making the decision to become a foster carer can be incredible, giving you the opportunity to truly change the lives of children and young people who may not have had the best start in life.

Many of the children and young people in care have had traumatic experiences early in life that have led them to being in care. As a result, they may present challenging behaviours that can be difficult to manage without the right training and support. We train our foster carers but we also have local, dedicated placements departments that carefully consider the behaviours and experiences of each child when looking for prospective matches among our foster carers.

Part of our ethical approach at Team Fostering means that our staff get to know foster carers during assessment and approval. Following your approval, a member of our local placements team would arrange a visit with you, where they would establish a thorough understanding of your family and home life, experiences and skills. Building this relationship with you means that when local authorities referred children and young people to us, we could quickly determine whether they would be a positive match for your family, a match that is likely to result in a positive outcome for the young person. We provide our foster carers with all of the information given to us about each child or young person where we believe there is a good match. While we would never recommend you looked after a child or young person unless we truly believed it to be a good match, you would be able to say no if you felt that the match was not right for your family.

If you were to welcome a child or young person into your home following a positive match, you would be provided with comprehensive support, innovative training and competitive fees that would allow you to commit to the role full-time. We aim to keep all children and young people in our care in stable environments, but we understand that fostering is challenging and we would be right by your side to help in any uncertain times. There are many different types of fostering, including short term and long term. You can read about these by clicking here.'

Team Fostering is a not-for-profit agency, which means we can invest all of our resources into putting children’s futures first. We operate across the North East, Yorkshire and East Midlands, with a team of amazing foster carers and staff. If you’d like to join us and become one of our foster carers, we would love to hear from you, whether you’ve fostered before or even if you’re completely new to the role.

Contact us today to learn more:

Call our Recruitment Administrator, Sam, on 0800 292 2003
Send an online enquiry by clicking here
Email us via info@teamfostering.co.uk

Source:
https://www.teamfostering.co.uk

Watch a short film created by TACT care experienced young people from Wales who wanted to give back something to young people who found themselves in similar positions to themselves when they were younger. In film, they also “talk to their younger selves” giving advice which they feel they can now give having learned so much from their experiences.

The film is a positive endorsement not just of the young people’s wonderful qualities and personalities but of their experiences living with fabulous foster carers who have clearly meant so much to them in their lives.

Watch the film here

​Richardson’s hope to make a difference to local charity.

Norfolk holiday company, Richardson’s, is hoping to make a difference to young vulnerable people and families across East Anglia with the announcement of its new charity partner, Break.

The holiday company, which owns Richardson’s Boating Holidays and Hemsby Beach Holiday Park and Richardson’s Family Entertainment Centre will over the next five years raise money for the charity as well as providing short breaks for young people throughout the year.

Greg Munford, Chief Executive of Richardson’s said: “We are delighted to be extending our partnership with Break and supporting the great work they do with children, young people and families.  Over the next five years we aim to raise as much money as possible for the charity, as well as providing children, who may ordinarily never be given the opportunity of a short break, the chance to enjoy the fun and relaxation of a holiday.”​

Photo: Greg Munford Chief Exec at Richardson's is joined by Break's Interim CEO, Rachel Cowdry.

Rachel Cowdry, Interim CEO at Break, said: “We are thrilled Richardson’s have chosen us as their charity partner and we look forward to working with them.  The support of organisations such as Richardson’s is vital to our work, not only in fundraising terms, but in providing vulnerable young people with unique opportunities that we would not be able to provide ourselves.”

Break has been changing young lives for over 50 years. The charity works tirelessly to support young people in care and moving on, children with disabilities, children at risk, and families who need support, finding a way through difficult times and opening the door to brighter tomorrows.

Source:
http://break-charity.org

I remember my childhood as a time of happiness. Yet I know that not everyone is so lucky - some children have no one at all.

These days, we know better than ever how formative these years are. So it’s almost unbelievable that things seem to be getting worse - not better - for children in the UK. Yet a new campaign from charity Action for Children highlights that many children are missing out on the vital support they need to have a safe and happy childhood. 

I’m adding my voice to the campaign because I believe this is unacceptable. Together we can urge the government to take urgent action now: to Choose Childhood.

Latest statistics show that 4.1 million children in the UK are living in poverty. As many as one in five have been exposed to domestic abuse. And there was a 38% increase in children in England identified at being at risk of harm between 2009/10 and 2017/18.

This isn't inevitable - we can help change things. By joining the Choose Childhood campaign, I'm calling on government to create a cross-government National Strategy for Childhood.
 
When Action for Children spoke to children, parents and grandparents as part of its research, it found the majority think childhoods are worse today than for the previous generation. Over a quarter of young people are worried about their mental health, and over a third about how they look. The charity is particularly concerned about vulnerable children and young people, such as those facing domestic abuse and deprivation.

Despite all this, services that help vulnerable children and families are being removed. Funding for children's services in England dropped by £3 billion between 2010/11 and 2017/18. Cuts like these are leaving children without support to face abuse and neglect, poverty and hunger.

But this isn’t inevitable - we can help change things. By joining the Choose Childhood campaign, I’m calling on government to invest in prevention and early help for families, close the £3.1 billion funding gap in local services, and create a cross-government National Strategy for Childhood.

As an ambassador for Action for Children, I’ve seen first-hand the difference that the right support can make. The charity runs more than 476 services across the UK, and supports 387,000 every year. But without government support, children continue to fall through the cracks. That’s why I’m choosing childhood - and I’m urging you to do the same.

Jessica Hynes is an award winning actor, director and writer, and has been a celebrity ambassador for Action for Children since 2007.

Source:
https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk