A new Coram survey on public attitudes to children in care and care leavers is published today to mark the first Care Experienced History Month UK The findings show that while most people are sympathetic to the challenges faced by children in care, some continue to hold negative judgements that potentially stigmatise care-experienced young people. The survey of over 2,000 UK adults finds that while 81% of those asked thought that children in care are neither a good nor bad influence on other children, around one in eight (12%) believe they are a bad influence. The survey, undertaken for Coram by YouGov, also suggests evidence of some negative and stigmatising associations which risk reinforcing fixed stereotypes of care-experienced young people. When asked for the first three words that came to mind when thinking about ‘children in care’, most respondents reported negative terms. The most popular responses included the words “sad”, “poor”, “abused”, “vulnerable” and “orphan”, with other commonly reported terms including “unloved”, “trauma” and “troubled”. The findings show that public attitudes are little changed on previous research carried out for Coram by YouGov in 2017, which found “lonely/loneliness”, “sad” and “troubled” to be among the most commonly reported terms to describe children in care. Today’s survey, part-funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, also reveals that the majority of respondents had some awareness of the unique challenges that care leavers face, highlighting inadequate support into adulthood and difficulty accessing education and jobs. A majority of people (62% to 76%) also favoured a range of support measures for care-experienced young people including education, housing, financial, apprenticeships and mental health support. The findings are published following the recent launch of Coram’s #RealStoriesOfCare campaign which showcases the personal stories of care-experienced young people today and through history. The campaign has been co-produced with care-experienced children and young people who identified that it would make a huge difference if the diverse experiences of care were more widely understood, with a balance of positive and negative aspects of care, instead of inaccurate or stigmatised perspectives which so often affect them. Dr Carol Homden, CEO of Coram, said: “Whilst it is encouraging to see that a majority of people recognise the importance of specialist support for young care leavers, the findings also suggest a failure to see children in care and care leavers as individuals who are more than their label of being care experienced. “Care-experienced children and young people have told us that negative associations can ‘follow them around’, undermining their efforts and limiting their potential. The government’s independent review of children’s social care is a timely opportunity for us all to hear young people’s voices, to ensure we portray their experiences in a more balanced light, and to celebrate their aspirations and achievements. The care-experienced young people working on Coram’s #RealStoriesOfCare campaign are sharing their own inspiring stories and working hard to challenge these limiting and stigmatising attitudes.” Julian Brown, a care-experienced Ambassador for Coram’s Voices Through Time programme and the creator of the Foundling: Found podcast series, said: “We need to change the notion that those in care are always journeying through life being ‘scared’, ‘lonely’, ‘troubled’, ‘unloved’ and ‘unfortunate’. Just reading these words is degrading in itself. People assume that that is all we may feel or think and that a care-experienced young person’s life cannot improve - if we can change this message, then I believe we can change the public perception around those in care. I know from care-experienced people that I have spoken to that being care has been ‘life-saving’, ‘freedom’, a ‘second chance’ and a ‘life they never knew existed.” Read the full report Source: www.coram.org.uk The Fostering Network welcomes the joint statement from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the British Medical Association (BMA), and also the joint statement from RCGP Cymru Wales and BMA Cymru Wales, which encourage GPs to deliver vital medicals for prospective foster carer assessments. As GP practices have been rightly focused on COVID-19 and the vaccination programme, medicals have been subject to significant delays which in turn have impacted on services’ capacity to place children with potential foster carers. A particular issue for our members in England and Wales, since September 2020 we have increasingly heard of the difficulties of securing medical reports to meet the current requirements for foster carer approval. Fostering services have reported that these difficulties have been a combination of Coronavirus regulatory amendments and increasing pressure on GPs during the pandemic and vaccine rollout. In a survey of our members conducted in February this year, we heard that for assessments started after 25 September 2020:
Based on these figures we believe the actual number of placements unavailable for children nationally to be much higher, due to the delays in completing foster carer approvals. As part of the assessment of prospective foster carers it is important to ensure that considerations are given to physical and mental health. Gathering this information will inform the wider assessment and review process, identifying the strengths that applicants may bring and balancing their ability to provide quality of family life with being aware of their overall physical and mental health. These delays have added to existing pressures on services where new foster families are in demand, potentially delaying the right family for a child. The Fostering Network believes that every effort needs to be made to support the process prior to approval. While we welcome these statements and hope they go some way to alleviate some of the difficulties currently being experienced by fostering services, we will continue to monitor this through our membership and hope that it marks the beginning of a relationship between RCGP, BMA and the fostering sector. The Fostering Network wants to hear from its members about the experiences they have had accessing medicals during the pandemic, and whether this improves over the coming months following this week’s statement. Please contact policy@fostering.net if you have an experience you would like to share in relation to this issue. Source: www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk Exciting things are happening at Community Foster Care, we have big goals and big plans in making sure the children and young people in our care have the best opportunity at a bright future. To keep improving and driving towards this mission, we need more hands on deck, so we are thrilled to announce two new arrivals to our team and very excited to introduce them both to you. We are pleased to welcome our new team member, Evelyn, to Community Foster Care. Evelyn is joining as a Marketing Assistant in our Gloucester office. She will be a voice behind some of our posts, so you will be hearing from and interacting with her on our social media platforms. Evelyn has a background in communications and marketing within organisations in England and Kenya. She is most happy when working within organisations that are making a positive impact in the world, and she is passionate about using marketing as a channel to promote social change. A little something about Evelyn: I enjoy spending time with friends and family, the pandemic has truly shown me how important they are to me. I love traveling and the new experiences it brings, especially when it comes to food, and I hope one day to travel more around Africa and the Middle East. I also relish in the arts which absolutely includes YouTube and Netflix. We are delighted to welcome Kate to our team, who has joined us as a Finance Assistant in our Gloucester Office. Kate’s role will support us to improve our financial capabilities, so we are better able to achieve our goals.
Kate has worked in admin and finance for seven years in various settings, and she finds the most rewarding part of her career journey has been with charities with an artistic or community focus. She is happy to be part of the team and is looking forward to using her skills to support our work. A little something about Kate: I have a husband, two teenage girls, a dog and two cats, all of which keep me plenty busy! I love to sing, anything from karaoke show tunes to big choral society stuff. I love being entertained and can’t wait to be able to visit theatres and comedy clubs once life gets back to some kind of normal again. If you would like to join our expedition, please see our available roles on our jobs board. Source: https://www.communityfostercare.co.uk/ To mark the one-year anniversary of lockdown, stars have highlighted how the pandemic has impacted children and young people across the UK by sharing their #OneWishForChildhood A host of famous faces including singer Liam Gallagher, actor Larry Lamb, TV presenter Ore Oduba, actress Sharon Horgan and Strictly star Giovanni Pernice have joined forces with Action for Children to share their ‘One Wish For Childhood’. Loose Woman Nadia Sawalha, Love Islanders Olivia and Alex Bowen, The Wanted’s Tom Parker and newsreader Dermot Murnaghan have been joined by Instagram stars Adanna Steinacker and Anna Saccone Joly as part of our campaign to End Childhood Crisis. With wishes ranging from ‘love’, ‘dance’, ‘happiness’ and ‘education’, the celebrities highlight those things all children should expect and cherish as their right, whilst helping to shine a light on all those vulnerable children in the UK for whom these things are, tragically, not always a reality. Urgent need for help Action for Children ambassador Larry Lamb said: “Over four million children in the UK are living in poverty right now. Many are going without proper food, heating, warm clothes and other essentials – and this was all happening before the pandemic. Now, with unemployment high and fears for the future when furlough ends, more families are facing financial hardship. And vulnerable children are paying the price. “Poverty can be devastating for children; its effects can last a lifetime. Without urgent help, the life chances of these children could be damaged. We can’t let the horror of the pandemic and the misery of poverty scar a generation of vulnerable children. We all need to work together to End Childhood Crisis.” What's your #OneWishForChildhood? Whatever your wish, you can help us reach the most vulnerable children in the UK by supporting our End Childhood Crisis campaign. Find out more or make a donation. Source: www.actionforchildren.org.uk Circa: £36,000 Department/Division: England North Location: Doncaster, South Yorkshire Contract Type: Permanent Part Time Hours: 14.6 Hours –Part-Time, 2 days per week. Closing Date: 29 March 2021 Giving children and young people the foundations they need to thrive.
The role We are looking for a Fostering Social Worker to join our small developing Fostering Service located in the Middlesbrough and North East area. The role includes recruiting and assessing new applicants as well as supporting a caseload of foster carers. This position is a 2 day a week position. Monday and Tuesday are preferable days. There is also an on-call rota which you will be required to undertake, 1 night in every 3/4 weeks. We promote and support agile working with all our Fostering Social Workers to enable you to work with a manageable caseload. Fostering experience and knowledge of fostering regulations is essential for this position. Part of the role is to develop and manage multi agency partnerships. This position also requires a good understanding of therapeutic parenting models. Our team consists of Admin Support, Social Workers, and Referral Officers. We also work in partnership with Chrysalis psychology services who support us, and our therapeutic work with children and young people. You will make a difference by:
You will need:
The way we work We work to make sure every child and young person has the love, support and opportunity they need to reach their potential. If you share the same vision, we want you to join our team. Have a look at our behaviours and values to understand more about the way we work here. Rewards We want our employees to feel valued and rewarded for the vital work they do. When you work with us, we'll recognise your efforts with generous annual leave, a comprehensive employer-matched pension scheme and a range of deals and discounts on our dedicated benefits portal. Find out more about our exclusive Action for Children benefits here. For safe and happy childhoods At Action for Children, we protect and support children and young people, providing practical and emotional care and support, ensuring their voices are heard, and campaigning to bring lasting improvements to their lives. Last year, we helped more than 387,000 children and families across the UK. For any questions about this role, please contact Lynsey Munro in our recruitment team on Lynsey.Munro@actionforchildren.org.uk 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 Circa: £43,000 Department/Division: England North Location: Doncaster, South Yorkshire Contract Type: Permanent Full Time Closing Date: 1 April 2021 Giving children and young people the foundations they need to thrive.
The role We are looking for a Team Manager for Fostering to join our small developing Service located in the Middlesbrough and North East Area. The successful applicant will be responsible for service delivery providing leadership and development to a dedicated and aspirational team of Social Workers and support staff. Dedicated to providing Foster placements that meet the needs of vulnerable children you will be committed to Therapeutic Parenting and able to ensure the child is at the centre of the fostering household. You will lead a team that follows PACE principles through our Homes Model. You will be supported by our robust relationship with Changing Minds our Psychological Support partners. You will manage a team of three Social workers and be well supported by a capable and caring Business Support function. Your team is one of two in a larger service that also covers Yorkshire and Humber, and you will be a member of the service's senior leadership team with opportunities to support Service Development objectives including training, panel and wider practice development initiatives. You will work closely with your peers to provide a culture of mutual support and collective responsibility, particularly around service development and Safeguarding. There is also an on-call rota which you will be required to undertake, 1 night in every 3/4 weeks. We promote and support agile working within our service to enable everyone to work with a manageable caseload. Fostering experience and knowledge of regulations is essential for this position. Part of the role is to develop and manage multi agency partnerships. You will make a difference by:
You will need:
The way we work We work to make sure every child and young person has the love, support and opportunity they need to reach their potential. If you share the same vision, we want you to join our team. Have a look at our behaviours and values to understand more about the way we work here. Rewards We want our employees to feel valued and rewarded for the vital work they do. When you work with us, we'll recognise your efforts with generous annual leave, a comprehensive employer-matched pension scheme and a range of deals and discounts on our dedicated benefits portal. Find out more about our exclusive Action for Children benefits here. For safe and happy childhoods At Action for Children, we protect and support children and young people, providing practical and emotional care and support, ensuring their voices are heard, and campaigning to bring lasting improvements to their lives. Last year, we helped more than 387,000 children and families across the UK. For any questions about this role, please contact Lynsey Munro in our recruitment team on Lynsey.Munro@actionforchildren.org.uk 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 This week charity consortium Action for Children, Barnardo’s Scotland and Princes Trust, highlight the worth of the Young Person’s Guarantee and call on employers to get involved and support young people in their communities. Lockdown has been an incredibly challenging time for us all, but our young people have been amongst the most heavily impacted by the effects of Covid-19. That’s why we are committed to the creation of The Young Person’s Guarantee which aims to help our younger generation secure employment, training, education or volunteering opportunities. We are particularly pleased that young people have been involved in the shaping of the Guarantee – they have stepped up to protect their future and now it’s our turn. We encourage Scotland’s employers to support the Young Person’s Guarantee by investing in and creating jobs to ensure that no one is left behind, and our current and future workforce have the skills and opportunities to flourish. Martin Crewe, Barnardo’s Scotland, Director for Scotland, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer Apprenticeships to young people across our Retail and Support Services, we are also supporters of the Kickstart programme where very soon we will be looking to recruit 30 young people in to a range of posts across Barnardo’s Scotland.” For more information about how Barnardo’s Scotland supports young people in to employment contact Tommy.mcdade@barnardos.org.uk Find out how your business can get involved at www.youngpersonsguarantee.scot Source: https://www.barnardos.org.uk/ The CMA has today launched a study of children’s social care provision to establish why a lack of availability and increasing costs could be leading to the needs of children in care not being met.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will examine concerns around high prices paid by local authorities and inadequate supply of appropriate placements for children in their care. This could be putting pressure on the ability of local authorities to provide the appropriate accommodation and care which children need. Using its statutory market study powers, the CMA aims to obtain information to help build a better understanding of the children’s social care sector. Depending on what it finds, it can issue guidance to businesses and the public, make recommendations to the industry or to government or, if appropriate, launch a full investigation into the market. Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the CMA, said: "Children in care are among the most vulnerable in our society and they need a system that does not let them down." "We are concerned that some children are not getting access to the right placements due to a lack of availability in the system, and that rising prices are putting further pressure on stretched local authority budgets." "The CMA is in a unique position to use its powers to look into this. But children’s care is not a market like any other - our clear and overriding priority will be about identifying ways children can get better care. This will include examining the concerns raised about the role of private sector providers, which has grown in the last few years, as well as the role of public and third sector providers." In England, Scotland and Wales, around 99,000 children live under the care of their local authority. The majority of children in care, approximately 65,000, live in foster care. Around 16,000 children live in residential care, including children’s homes and independent or semi-independent living accommodation, with the remaining 18,000 in a range of other types of placement, including with their parents or placed for adoption. Each local authority is responsible for contracting foster care and purchasing the required children’s homes places. Children are placed with foster carers, either directly by the local authority or by independent fostering agencies, which can be run for-profit in England and Wales but not in Scotland. Children’s homes are provided either directly by local authorities, by the private sector or by charities, with 70% of children in England and 78% of children in Wales placed in private sector homes. The launch of the study comes after concerns have been raised by other organisations about private sector provision of children’s social care making high profit margins. A recent Local Government Association report found that some independent providers of children’s residential and fostering placements are achieving profits of more than 20% on their income. The study will examine whether high levels of profit have been made at the expense of investment in recruiting and retaining staff, and providing quality services. The CMA will look at how well the current system of provision is working across England, Scotland and Wales and explore how it could be made to work better. In particular, it will look into: the supply of placements, including whether the current balance of local authority, private sector and third sector provision is working well for children and local authorities prices charged by providers and variation between prices paid for similar types of placement, with increasing prices potentially putting pressure on local authority budgets the way commissioning of places is carried out, and whether local authorities could be more effective in securing appropriate placements for children the environment for investing in the system to ensure sufficient appropriate places are available for all children who need them in the future, and whether any measures should be taken to improve this In recent years, the CMA has carried out similar studies into funerals and care homes for older people, among others. Comments on the issues raised can be submitted in the Invitation to Comment by 14 April 2021. All updates on the CMA’s work in this area can be found on the Children’s social care study page. Source: https://www.gov.uk Josh MacAlister A couple of weeks ago I set out the overarching question that the independent review of children’s social care will focus on – how we can ensure that children grow up in loving, safe and stable families, and where that is not possible that care provides those same foundations. For those children who need to enter care, making sure they have somewhere to live that meets their needs is crucial. This is the place a child will spend most of their time and can provide the stability that enables them to forge lifelong relationships. Yet, since my appointment as chair of the independent review of children’s social care, I’ve been inundated with calls from care-experienced children and young people, Directors of Children’s Services, providers and others telling me that currently the ‘placements market’ (an unfortunate term in itself) just isn’t working and that a lack of suitable homes for children is leading to unnecessary out of area placements, placement breakdown and inappropriate use of unregulated provision. This is why one of my first actions as chair of the review, was to write to the Competition and Markets Authority to ask that they open a study into the children’s social care ‘market’. I am in good company in this regard, with the former Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield and the Communities and Local Government Select Committee also suggesting the CMA should look into this issue. It is therefore extremely welcome that the CMA have today launched a market study looking at the provision of accommodation and associated care and support for children in care in England, Scotland and Wales. The timing of this work provides an opportunity for our two reviews to work together to achieve better informed recommendations, to improve the quality of homes children can live in. The CMA have a unique remit and skill set to look into this issue and their work will explore specific concerns in relation to children’s homes, unregulated accommodation and fostering provision. The independent review of children’s social care will, by contrast, take a broader look across children’s social care, using the evidence gathered by the CMA and others to make recommendations that span the whole system. There will be some areas where our areas of focus overlap and so I have agreed with the CMA that their study and our review will work closely together, within the bounds of the CMA’s legal powers and obligations and respecting the independence of both pieces of work. In practice this will mean sharing findings so that we benefit from the same evidence, but also more practically ensuring that requests for information are not duplicated unnecessarily. I am looking forward to working with the CMA to strengthen the review’s evidence and make the most of the opportunity we have to solve one of the most persistent barriers to making sure care provides children with loving, stable and safe foundations. Source: https://childrenssocialcare.independent-review.uk Location: Walsall Salary: 45,000 pa + £750 Home Working Allowance pa + £1,500 Out of Hours Allowance pa Closing Date: 15/03/2021 Interview Date: 29/03/2021 Hours: 35 Hours Per Week Home Based – West Midlands
TACT, the UK’s largest fostering charity now has over 500 dedicated carers, who look after over 600 children and young people across the country. Our reputation and growth rests upon our strength in providing successful placements. As a charity, we do not have shareholders who receive profits and we invest all our surplus income into service, staff, carers, and children’s development. The West Midlands service currently seeks an enthusiastic Homebased Fostering Deputy Area Manager who is committed to ensuring that the children we care for meet their full potential. The successful candidate will bring experience of working with children and young people in a statutory setting, have a management qualification and have strong interpersonal and leadership skills. As a Homebased Fostering Deputy Area Manager your core duties will include:
The Homebased Fostering Deputy Area Manager must be Social Work England registered and have a DipSW, CSS or CQSW qualification. An enhanced DBS check is required for this post and will be undertaken by TACT on your behalf. TACT is a homebased workforce. We recognise the benefits that flexible home working creates for both the employer and the employee. As a remote working organisation, we are committed to work with our staff to enable consistent inclusion and engagement across the organisation to ensure the optimum standards of service for our carers and children. The postholder will need to travel around the West Midlands and surrounding areas post Covid in order to support foster carers, children and young people. TACT offer an excellent benefits package including:
The sucessful candidate will be required to participate in the out of hours duty rota, attracting an additional allowance of £1,500 per annum (once on the rota). Please see the Deputy Area Manager job description and applicant information booklet for full details. Closing: Midnight on Monday, 15th March 2021 Interviews: Monday, 29th March 2021 (via Microsoft Teams) Safeguarding is everyone’s business and TACT believe that only the people with the right skills and values should work in social work. As part of TACT’s commitment to safeguarding, we properly examine the skills, experience, qualifications, and values of potential staff in relation to our work with vulnerable young children. We use rigorous and consistent recruitment approaches to help safeguard TACT’s young people. All our staff are expected to work in line with TACT’s safeguarding policies. TACT does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them. TACT reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so we advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Full details and application documents here |
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