Circa: £32,300 DOE +Telephone On Call Allowance Department/Division: England South Location: Devon + South West Peninsula Contract Type: Permanent Full Time Closing Date: 17 May 2020 How do we work?
Action for Children does what's right, does what's needed and does what works for children in the UK. Every year our services change the lives of 390,000 children, young people and families. Action for Children Fostering South West Peninsula and Family Breaks seeks to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children and young people in society by the provision of safe, secure and successful foster placements including the provision of short breaks for children with additional needs. We also offer the highest standard of care-providing carers with excellent training, supervision and support to achieve the best outcomes for the young people we look after. We have been graded Outstanding by Ofsted (2018) and strive to provide a good quality of care to young people, always ensuring they are the centre of our approach. Our placements cover Somerset to Cornwall so flexibility to travel across this cluster as and when needed is imperative for this role. How will you make a difference? You will work towards making a lasting difference by
What do you need? To be considered for this role, you will need to demonstrate
How will we reward you?
This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference and to build a fulfilling and meaningful career with a leading UK children's charity. If you want to be part of a dynamic progressive Service that places the young person at the centre of our success- so don't delay, apply today! Action for Children is committed to safer recruitment practices, designed to protect the welfare of the children and young people using our services. If you have any other questions, please contact Fatima Matin on 07918773592. Full details and application documents here How we are working through this pandemic. We would like to thank all of you who have supported Break in the past and who are interested in how we are responding to the current crisis caused by Covid-19. We would like to reassure you that we are prioritising supporting all the young people that are in our care. We are reconfiguring our practices so that we can do this as safely as we can whilst still meeting the needs of each young person. Naturally, there are many challenges to this but our staff have been amazing and are coming up with constant ideas and adaptations to our practice. Unfortunately, alongside this incredible response, we are faced with a vast reduction in our income due to having to close our charity shops and cancel our fundraising events which may have an impact on our future viability. Although we are confident that, over time, we will be able to overcome this, we would really appreciate any help you can provide - whether it is a donation or volunteering. Please donate here and know that every penny will go to supporting a very vulnerable young person at this extremely challenging time in their development. Source: http://break-charity.org Anne Longfield and shadow minister for children say new regulations should be revoked, while Labour peer questions whether it is 'constitutional abuse' to reintroduce changes rejected in 2017 in pandemic emergency legislation The Children’s Commissioner for England and Labour have joined a growing chorus of opposition to new legislation that removes or reduces local authority duties to children in care, ostensibly to relieve pressures relating to the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement issued on Thursday, Anne Longfield said she was “extremely concerned” about the changes, which affect 10 sets of regulations and were introduced via a statutory instrument last week. She added that she believed they should be revoked because there was not “sufficient justification to introduce them”. Following her comments, Labour’s shadow minister for children, Tulip Siddiq, said on Twitter: “I agree with the Children’s Commissioner for England. Having raised concerns last week and spoken to sector representatives, it seems like children may be put in harm’s way by these changes. They should be revoked.” The new regulations suspend duties on social workers to visit children every six weeks, remove requirements for care plans to be reviewed six-monthly and relax standards governing children’s homes, fostering and adoption. They attracted criticism from across the sector when they were published on 23 April. The amendments came into force the next day without sitting before Parliament for 21 days, as is customary, and lapse on 25 September 2020. They can though be extended by a further statutory instrument. ‘Minimal consultation’ An explanatory memorandum subsequently issued by the Department for Education (DfE) said the government had consulted with representative bodies. The document mentioned the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) and the Local Government Association (LGA), adding that the commissioner had been “informed”. The commissioner’s office moved quickly to clarify that there had been no actual discussion with the DfE. An ADCS comment on Twitter also denied that the association – which has faced scrutiny over its role – had benefited from active input into which areas of legislation might be appropriate to relax for social workers during the pandemic. Longfield’s statement went further, attacking the legislative changes for having been implemented “with minimal consultation” and without adherence to the 21-day rule. The government has claimed waiting would have placed “extraordinary pressure” on local authorities and other providers trying to meet statutory obligation during the coronavirus outbreak. “However, the reports I have been receiving from local authorities are that staffing for social care is holding up well,” said Longfield, echoing the accounts of many social workers with whom Community Care has spoken in recent weeks. “It therefore appears that bringing in these regulatory changes to ease excessive strain on a depleted workforce, and to do so without the opportunity for public scrutiny, is not justified,” the commissioner added. Government guidance on the use of the legislative amendments, which the chief social worker Isabelle Trowler said earlier this week was due imminently, had not been issued at the time this article was published. ‘Constitutional abuse’ In a related development, the statutory instrument also came under cross-party scrutiny in the House of Lords on Thursday. In an exchange with Baroness Berridge, the minister for the school system, Labour peer Lord Howarth of Newport questioned whether it was a “constitutional abuse for the government to have used the emergency coronavirus legislation to make a major and hugely controversial policy change of a nature that has been explicitly rejected by parliament in 2017”. Critics of the statutory instrument have pointed out that many of the ways in which duties have been removed or reduced mirror proposals the government attempted – and failed – to introduce as part of the Children and Social Work Act 2017. Many fear that those measures have now been introduced via the back door under the new secondary legislation. Article 39, the children’s rights charity that has led opposition to the changes, has invited individuals and organisations to publicly register their objections. Law firm Irwin Mitchell is also preparing a legal challenge to the new regulations on behalf of Article 39, the legal journalist Catherine Baksi said on Twitter. In response to peers’ questions, Berridge said the measures were “a minimal change to the procedural requirements in relation to children’s social care” and were “intended to be a temporary measure to enable the limited flexibility that local authorities need at this time” to prioritise resource. Meanwhile children’s minister Vicky Ford, in a letter to the Guardian, described the changes as “allowing [social workers] to make pragmatic decisions through minor, temporary amendments to regulations, while always keeping children’s safety paramount”. “I hope these flexibilities will not have to be used,” Ford said in the letter. “But it is my responsibility to those who care for our most vulnerable children and families to provide the necessary tools to make the right decisions during these challenging times.” Source: www.communitycare.co.uk The Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership has asked for art to brighten the walls of the new NHS Nightingale Hospital North West, at Manchester’s G-Mex Centre. And we at the Together Trust are responding. The children and young people in our schools and care settings, who in many cases have learning disabilities, complex needs, communications difficulties and autism, have been busy creating art in all shapes and sizes. Mark Lee, Chief Executive at the Together Trust said: “Art plays an important part in everything we do at the Together Trust, whether that’s in our schools, our residential homes or in our services in the community. In many cases the people we support have the kind of complex needs that mean they’ve often struggled to cope in other settings. “But at the Together Trust we use art to help our children and young people express themselves and I’m delighted to see them responding in this way to the call for art for the NHS Nightingale hospital in Manchester”. The Together Trust has a long association with the arts, and using art as therapy as a means by which children and young people can express themselves. Edward Gosling, known to all as Teddy, was just 2 years old when he was admitted to our Bethesda home for disabled children in 1900.
Born without any arms he was taught by the home to use his toes to complete everyday tasks. Teddy showed such artistic talent that arrangements were made for him to train at the Manchester Municipal School of Art, where he soon flourished. As well as being a talented painter he also created a number of wood-carvings and several war memorials, and one of his pictures was admired and purchased by the Queen of Norway. This year, as part of our 150th anniversary celebrations, we put on an exhibition at The Lowry Centre showcasing work created by children and young people supported by the charity, which celebrated the long history of the Together Trust and the work we do. And now many of our young people are showing their support for carers, staff and patients at the new NHS Nightingale hospital in Manchester. We hope you enjoy their work! Source: www.togethertrust.org.uk Full Time - 37.5 hours per week Salary banding - £43,967.52 to £47,364.40 pa Based in Sheffield Please note we do not operate a performance related reward system or automatic incremental payments Team Fostering is an ethical not for profit fostering agency with a strong reputation and proven track record for providing high quality, value for money fostering placements for looked after children. We pride ourselves on our values and we expect our staff to commit to and demonstrate these values in their everyday work.
We are looking for an outstanding and committed Team Manager to join us, managing the provision and development of our fostering service in the Yorkshire & East Midlands region and successfully deliver new opportunities to enhance our agency. The post holder will be responsible for the day to day management of the team of Supervising Social Workers in our Sheffield office. Working as an integral member of the management team, you will have a sound knowledge of current legislation, including regulations, guidance and standards, and will work to promote our ethical not for profit status. An understanding of the role of Independent Fostering Providers and their relationship with local authorities is essential. Above all, you will have excellent leadership, strategic vision, communication and interpersonal skills and be hardworking, positive, and motivated to improve outcomes for looked after children. The post is based in Sheffield however there will be a requirement to travel to our other Team Fostering offices in Yorkshire & East Midlands and the North East. For an informal chat about the post please contact Kathleen Walley, Assistant Director, on 07717 762125 To apply, please complete an Application Form and Equal Opportunities Form (available below) and return via email to hr@teamfostering.co.uk no later than 12pm on 4 May 2020. Please note Team Fostering does not accept CV’s. All posts require Enhanced DBS Disclosure Closing date: 12 pm on Monday 4 May 2020 Interviews will be held in our Sheffield office or virtually on Monday 18 May 2020 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. Thank you for your interest in Team Fostering and taking the time to apply for this position. Full details and application documents here. Location: Northants Salary: £27 per hour for support and supervision of foster carers and placements, £1,900 + VAT per completed Form F Assessment, £33 per hour for initial visits. Closing Date: 11/05/2020 Interview Date: 21/05/2020 Hours: Variable TACT is the UK’s largest specialist charity provider of fostering services. Our core work involves providing high quality and well supported fostering or adoptive families for children and young people in the care of local authorities. Working in partnership with local authorities from our offices across England, Wales and Scotland, we are dedicated to providing creative, effective and outcome-focused services. We also campaign on behalf of children and young people in care, carers and adoptive families and are a leading voice in the sector.
Our vision is to provide better lives for our children and young people. Our East Midlands Team are seeking self-employed social workers in Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and other locations in the East Midlands area to cover a variety of duties. Successful applicants will be specifically located in these areas or within a 30 mile radius. Self-Employed Sessional Social Worker duties may include:
Self-Employed Sessional Social Worker - Fostering - Rates of Pay
Please see the Self-Employed Sessional Social Worker Job Information Pack for a full breakdown of the role and rates. CLOSING DATE : Midnight on Monday 11th May 2020 INTERVIEWS : Via Skype - Thursday 21st May 2020 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. This is an ongoing recruitment process. We will be arranging interviews on a regular basis and new dates will be notified as soon as possible. If you need more information please contact the HR Team at HR@tactcare.org.uk. Full details and application documents here. Circa: £37,000 Department/Division: Scotland Location: Glasgow Contract Type: Permanent Hours: Full Time 37 hours. Closing Date: 8 May 2020 Senior Practitioner (Fostering)
Do you have the values we need? Do you want to be part of a Service that helps young people feel valued and important? … helps them grow and feel stronger? … inspire and help them feel safe? How we work Action for Children does what's right, does what's needed and does what works for children in the UK. Every year our services change the lives of 390,000 children, young people and families. CAPS Fostering Service is a specialist fostering service that offers attachment- based therapeutic care to children and young people who cannot be looked after at home. We offer the highest standard of care providing carers with excellent training, supervision and support to achieve the best outcomes for the young people we look after. We have excellent Fostering Inspections and provide good quality of care to young people, always ensuring we listen to our young people every step of the way. Our Service is growing, and as a Senior Practitioner you will be working in our (Fostering Scotland) team based in our Glasgow office. How you will make a difference By bringing you: your experience values and enthusiasm, and being part of a team (social workers, children's workers and therapists) to support fostering families to provide stable and loving experiences for young people. You will work with others to inspire, support and keep children and young people safe, to create memories and support connections with young people's families, their brothers and sisters; and you will feel confident and skilled in your role. You will promote the highest standards of care and wellbeing for our young people and guide and deliver training to foster carers and team members with opportunity to really get to know young people and support them on their journey. By thinking therapeutically and creatively (with and for) young people and ensuring best practice, you will make a real and lasting difference. You will be part of a team that values relational- based practice where this is the heart of all that we do! What you'll need
How we reward you
This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference and to build a fulfilling and meaningful career with a leading UK children's charity. If you want to be part of a dynamic progressive Service that places the young person at the centre of our success- please indicate your interest/ and make an application! Action for Children is committed to safer recruitment practices, designed to protect the welfare of the children and young people using our services. If you meet all the criteria and would like to proceed with your application, you will be redirected to an application form on our website which should only take around 20 minutes to complete. Please have your CV handy to upload. As this job involves working around young people there are some specific questions we need to ask you as part of your application process. Thanks for taking the time to apply and we wish you the best of luck! For more information about this role, please contact Lynsey.Munro@actionforchildren.org.uk or call her on 07920 428 847. Full details and application documents here Changes to protection system condemned as ‘deregulation on steroids’ Changes to legal protections for children in care, introduced by the UK government as an emergency response to the coronavirus crisis, have been condemned as “deregulation on steroids” by children’s rights campaigners. Activists described the decision to relax 10 key sets of regulations, developed over decades to protect the most vulnerable children in society, as an “outrageous assault on safeguards” and warned that children would be harmed. One of the key relaxations, which came into force last Friday, is the removal of the requirement for a social worker to visit – or even telephone – a child in care every six weeks, reducing it to “as soon as is reasonably practicable”. The requirement for a six-monthly review of a child’s care, introduced following the manslaughter of the 12-year-old Dennis O’Neill by his foster carers in 1944, has been similarly relaxed, and adoption and fostering panels which allow for independent scrutiny have become optional. The government says the measures are temporary – expiring on 25 September – and will allow overstretched children’s services greater flexibility, but there are fears that the coronavirus crisis is being used as an excuse to relax children’s social care duties and the expiry date could be revoked. Labour’s Tulip Siddiq has written to the children’s minister Vicky Ford calling on the government to publish data to show the impact on vulnerable children. Her Labour colleague Emma Lewell-Buck has posted a series of parliamentary questions to find out more about the process which led to the amendments. “They are using this pandemic to experiment with vulnerable children,” she said. The measures were introduced by the government as part of emergency coronavirus legislation, via a statutory instrument. Campaigners are concerned there was no public consultation or parliamentary scrutiny and they say many of the changes have been proposed by the government before. Carolyne Willow, the director of Article 39, a charity that campaigns for the rights of children in institutional settings, said it was “deregulation on steroids”. She said: “This outright assault on safeguards protecting the most vulnerable children is outrageous. Safeguards are there to protect children from harm, so it goes without saying that these changes forced through without any public consultation or parliamentary scrutiny will harm children. “The government has produced no evidence to back up its claim that changes to 10 different sets of regulations are in response to the pressures of lockdown. It has also conveniently omitted to mention that this is the fourth time since 2016 that ministers have tried to impose mass deregulation in children’s social care.” Enver Solomon, the chief executive of Just for Kids Law, added: “At this time of national crisis, in its role as corporate parent the government should be going the extra mile for every child in care. It’s astonishing that isn’t the case and truly shocking that instead government has chosen to weaken the support offered to some of the country’s most vulnerable children.” There is growing concern about vulnerable children during lockdown. Schools have remained open to them, as well as children of key workers, to provide some protection but the numbers attending are small. Latest figures show 10% of children “in need” and those with education, health and care plans are turning up at school – up from 5% earlier in the pandemic. A Department for Education spokesperson said: “While the vast majority of statutory duties remain unchanged, we have reviewed our regulations to allow some temporary flexibility, to be used where absolutely necessary, to help reduce pressure on the system and enable children’s services to continue to support vulnerable children during the coronavirus outbreak.” Source: www.theguardian.com Article 39 accuses government of using Covid-19 as an excuse for revisiting attempts to allow councils to opt out of statutory responsibilities A children’s rights charity has slammed legislation to relax councils’ social care duties during the pandemic as a move by government to use coronavirus to “destroy children’s safeguards”. In a statement issued last night, Carolyne Willow, the director of Article 39, said new statutory instrument – published yesterday and implemented today – amounted to “deregulation on steroids”. The legislation, which relaxes a range of duties relating to children in care – including around visits by social workers and independent reviews – bypasses the convention that statutory instruments sit before Parliament for 21 days before coming into force. It remains in force until 25 September 2020 but can be extended by a further statutory instrument. An accompanying document issued by the government last night said the changes were needed to help councils prioritise needs at a time of staffing shortages and increased demand, and that waiting 21 days would “put extraordinary pressure on local authorities, providers and services to try to meet statutory obligations while continuing to provide care for vulnerable children and young people during the outbreak”. It said the decision was taken following informal consultation with sector bodies who had said that the changes needed to be implemented urgently. The document said that among those consulted were the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) and Ofsted, and that the Children’s Commissioner for England had been informed. But Willow said: “The idea that local authorities have been clamouring to remove fundamental legal protections from vulnerable children during the middle of a global pandemic is just not credible. “It is soul-destroying that so much time and effort has been put into systematically eroding the rights of children,” she added. Willow noted that many of the changes made under the new secondary legislation had been seen before, under 2016 proposals to allow councils to opt out of some duties, which were heavily criticised and then withdrawn by government. “It’s an insult to children to suggest that Covid-19 is the cause of this,” Willow said. “Having spent hours going through the statutory instrument line-by-line, I haven’t been able to find a single new protection for children. The whole document is about taking away, diminishing and undermining what has been built up for children over many decades.” Social work visits requirement replaced Guidance published earlier in April also attracted criticism for stating that councils would not be able to meet all their duties during coronavirus, but not specifying the conditions under which that might be acceptable or legal. The document was also viewed by some as taking an overly relaxed view as to children’s social workers’ needs for personal protective equipment (PPE). Yesterday’s publication by contrast amends a number of specific areas of legislation. Some of the key changes are:
‘Business as usual’ Responding to the concerns, ADCS president Jenny Coles said: “We recognise the concerns raised about the statutory instrument affording some flexibilities to local authorities due to the outbreak of Covid-19, however, it’s important to recognise that all local authorities and their staff will continue working hard to ensure that we can fulfil our statutory responsibilities to children and young people, particularly the most vulnerable. “The best interests of children and families remain at the heart of any decision made by local authorities.” Claudia Megele, the chair of the Principal Children and Families Social Worker (PCFSW) Network, which was involved in discussions with the DfE, said that the greater flexibility within statutory guidance would be helpful for practitioners and local authorities. “To some degree [this] mitigates the pressures experienced by practitioners during this time,” she said. “I have active communication with many PSWs and practitioners and they are more committed than ever to protect children and young people, listen to their voice and aim to achieve their best interests.” Megele said that as far as possible, all children’s PSWs were aiming to maintain “business as usual” during the pandemic. “Even if a home visit is virtual, they still aim to achieve the same objectives as a physical, face-to-face home visit,” she said. But Megele also warned that some of the changes could have “significant adverse effect” in the long run, and stressed that their timespan must remain limited. “[The changes relating to children’s homes] allow the appointment of unqualified staff when there are complex issues and problems that require well-skilled and experienced staff,” she said. “Another example is the de facto suspension of the duty to report infectious diseases to Ofsted’s chief inspector – this is concerning given that we are in the middle of a pandemic and dealing with a highly infectious disease.” Megele also said she was worried about the watering down of IROs’ duties through the relaxing of timescales for reviews of looked-after children’s care. “Although the flexibility in timescales is necessary and helpful, there are concerns about de facto suspension of some of the safeguarding responsibilities at a time when children and young people may need our support more than ever before,” she said. ‘Hard-won rights not bureaucratic processes’ In its response to the changes, the British Association of Social Workers warned that “hard won rights in law are not simply bureaucratic processes but exist to protect children and young people and promote their well-being”. It said that, particularly when compared with the parallel changes to adult social care law – the Care Act easements enacted under the Coronavirus Act 2020 – there was “an absence of a clear, documented and facilitated process for the rationale, structured introduction and delivering of the regulations for local authorities”. The association added: “The risk is that significant changes are ‘dribbled in’ on a case by case basis with no explicit rationale either within or between local authorities.” ‘No time to trial changes’ June Thoburn, an emeritus professor of social work at the University of East Anglia, said she was worried – in light of comments made by children’s minister Vicky Ford to the education select committee this week that the statutory instrument covered “lower-risk” areas – about the potential for the new amendments to be used as a “trial” for longer-term change. “No reputable researcher, planner or scientist would think that in this exceptional period one could gather evidence on which to base long-term changes, especially when [they] could profoundly limit the legal rights of children and families living in the most disadvantaged circumstances,” she said. Thoburn added that she was particularly concerned about the changes regarding fostering and adoption, which she said could be used to speed children’s journeys through the system at a time when court scrutiny was weakened. Katharine Sacks-Jones, chief executive of children in care charity Become, said: “We are deeply concerned about the implications of these emergency changes to the rights of vulnerable children in care and care leavers. While we understand the pressures local authorities are currently under, the vagueness of these changes risks the safety of those who need protecting the most. “We are also astonished that the government believes the impact of its amendments are limited given the greater risks vulnerable children and young people could now face. We urge the government to rethink this approach and provide far more clarity. They must also routinely assess and publish the impact of any changes over the next six months. Where the regulations are found to be placing children and young people at risk of harm, we expect the government to reconsider its approach as soon as possible.” ‘Strongest possible safeguards needed’ Meanwhile a spokesperson for the Children’s Commissioner’s Office stressed that while the organisation had been informed of these changes, there had been no consultation with the DfE. “This is a time when children are particularly vulnerable and local authorities need to be more proactive than ever in reaching out to vulnerable families,” the spokesperson said. “The government needs to be putting the support in place to help them do this, with the right testing, PPE equipment and support for workforce recruitment,” the spokesperson added. “If there was ever a need to consider any relaxation of regulations as a last resort, it must be accompanied by the strongest possible safeguards, used for the shortest possible time and regularly reviewed by DfE in a very transparent way.” Labour responded similarly to the regulations, shadow minister for children and early years Tulip Siddiq, saying: “Of course we understand the huge pressures that councils are under at the moment and the need to prioritise the most urgent obligations to those in need. But we must ensure that this significant relaxation of councils’ duties to protect vulnerable children does not increase the risk of harm and is strictly temporary. “The government must collect and publish information about any statutory obligations that aren’t being met and assess the impact. If these changes lead to bad outcomes for the most vulnerable children, Ministers must immediately reconsider their approach.” In her appearance before the education select committee on Wednesday, Ford stressed that directors of children’s services should use the new flexibilities “if they need it” and that “safeguarding must come first”. “They should always do what they would normally do first,” she added, but said the provisions gave councils the flexibility they needed, “on a risk assessed basis”. Source: www.communitycare.co.uk At The Foster Care Co-operative (FCC) we remain committed in supporting our children, current foster carers and anyone who may be interested in fostering in the future. This means that despite the current lockdown measures, FCC’s wealth of knowledge and experience is still here for you! We have now moved to working from home for all staff members to prevent spreading the COVID-19 virus. You can continue to reach us as normal on our central office telephone numbers and 24hr support remains in place at all times. Now, more than ever in these uncertain times, we need your help. Children are in desperate need of care. You could make a real difference to a child’s life. New foster carer enquires and applications, are very welcome and the following steps are in place:
Additionally, as applications can take between six and eight months, now is a great time to apply. Why not make a no-obligation enquiry HERE to see if you qualify? Source: www.fostercarecooperative.co.uk |
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