Industry News: Become Advisory Group of care leavers discuss their COVID-19 lockdown experiences10/7/2020
You can listen to the podcast on SoundCloud here The Become Advisory Group has created a podcast reflecting on their experiences of the COVID-19 lockdown and what they’ve learned about themselves. The group are care-experienced young adults from across England who play a vital role in our work and ensure we and other organisations are listening to lived experience in the most meaningful ways. In this episode, Sam Turner (Policy and Participation Manager) talks to Alice, George, Kayleigh, and Leanne about various aspects of lockdown life, including what they’ve found challenging, coping mechanisms, positive aspects, and what they’re most looking forward to as we move out of lockdown. They’ve also produced some ‘wellbeing tips’ (below) which we encourage you to share. After listening, please let us know whether your experiences have been different and what you’re appreciating more right now. You can join the conversation on social media by finding us on Instagram at BecomeCharity, on Twitter at @Become1992 or on Facebook at BecomeCharity. Some of the discussions in this recording might bring up certain feelings or emotions for you, particularly if you’re also someone with care experience. If you’re in care or a care leaver and you’d like some advice or support, or a friendly voice to listen, remember that we’re always here for you. From Monday to Friday (10am-5pm), you can call us on 0800 023 2033 or email us at advice@becomecharity.org.uk. The number of care-experienced young adults contacting us for advice and support about their finances, housing situation, their mental health has more than doubled because of the pandemic. Some have just wanted to speak to someone about how they’re feeling because they have no-one else to turn to. If you would like to support our work, please donate to our emergency appeal. We hope you enjoy listening! Source: www.becomecharity.org.uk Did you know that as foster carer, you can foster both a parent and their children? It’s called PACT (Parents And Children Together), and there is a great need for PACT trained foster carers. Jane, one of FCC’s Supervising Social Workers and PACT trainer, explains why. As a Supervising Social Worker for FCC I have supported many foster carers providing a variety of placements. Recently, we have provided an increased number of Parent and Child placements. This is where a parent is placed alongside their child in the foster home. This can be one or two parents and a baby or a child. We have also had a mother and two children placed with us. This type of fostering is very different to the usual placement of a child or young person in the family home but is as equally rewarding. Often these placements have been requested by the court where there have been concerns about the mother’s ability to parent and are usually requested for a 12 week assessment period, but due to circumstances this can vary. Issues that we have dealt with include concerns around a parent’s previous drug or alcohol use, learning disabilities or inappropriate partners. Maybe the parent has previously had a child removed from their care. Having a parent live in the foster home gives them a chance to learn new skills and build their confidence to enable them to parent their child adequately. Carers assist them with learning routines with regards to feeding, laundry, play and sleep times etc. Parents are involved in all aspects of family life with the carers acting as appropriate role models. Parents have been supported to attend local baby groups, visit the clinic and doctors etc. They have taken part in family activities to include meals out, cinema and barbeques. The carers need good observation and recording skills. They need good communication skills as they will need to build a relationship with the parent but also remain clear that they have to report back to the Social Worker on a regular basis. We have seen children return with their parents to live in the community successfully with some keeping in contact with their carers afterwards. Sometimes this is not possible and the child’s needs have to remain the most important throughout. If the plan is for the child to live elsewhere the foster carers have an important role in supporting them to transition to a new family. Myself and an experienced PACT carer provide training and support specific to this role. PACT carers will have regular Social Work visits and 24 hour phone support. They will also have peer support from other PACT carers. It can be hard work but also very rewarding knowing that you have been part of a team making the best decision for a child. One of our most experienced PACT carers said: “The thing I enjoy about PACT placements is that I’m not the babysitter. It’s my job to encourage the parent to be a good mum or dad and it’s rewarding watching them learn new skills.” If you feel that you could become a PACT foster carer, or if you have an interest in fostering generally, you can make an initial enquire here. Source: www.fostercarecooperative.co.uk While we’ve been in lockdown this year, Team Fostering has been exploring different ways to stay in touch with people who are considering becoming foster carers with the agency. We know it’s often a big decision to make even if you’ve been thinking about fostering for a while, and often you’ll have a whole bunch of questions you’d like to ask before you take your first step towards being a foster carer. We also know that sometimes, when you’re looking for information about a big lifestyle change like fostering, a face-to-face conversation with someone friendly really helps – so as we entered social distancing this year, we wanted to make it just as easy for you to have a useful chat with our recruitment team about becoming a carer with our agency. This is why we introduced our new Drop-In Advice days. One day a month, you can book a 45 minute slot with our Recruitment Social Workers, Cheryl and Douglas, who’ll explain more about Team Fostering and what we offer, chat through what we look for in our prospective foster carers, and answer any questions you might have about becoming a foster carer with Team Fostering. It can be a phone or a video call, and offers the perfect opportunity to find out whether fostering is the right thing for you to explore right now. It’s really easy to book – just visit our booking page here select your chosen time and scroll down to leave us your contact details. One of our Recruitment Team will get in touch to confirm who your appointment will be with, and whether you’d prefer a phone or video call with us. And then that’s it until Cheryl or Douglas gives you a call! Our upcoming Drop-In days take place next week on Tuesday 14th July, and then again on Tuesday 11th August. If you can’t make it to our Drop In sessions, don’t forget you can contact us to learn more about becoming a foster carer in one of the following ways:
Source: www.teamfostering.co.uk Lockdown has isolated vulnerable children and young people from services and means they are missing out on vital support, Barnardo’s frontline workers say. In the biggest ever survey of the leading children’s charity’s services’ practitioners, respondents said that fewer children and young people were being referred into services, despite increasing need. Now Barnardo’s is calling on professionals to refer vulnerable children and young people to the new See, Hear, Respond service funded by the Department for Education. Through the DfE’s new See, Hear, Respond programme, Barnardo’s is leading a ‘coalition of charities’ across England to provide much-needed support to children who are falling through the cracks; which includes children who have no social worker and have not been identified as vulnerable by authorities. The coalition, made up of local and national charities, will work together to expand its reach and help vulnerable children most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic with online counselling, therapy and face-to-face support. This includes children and young people who are being criminally exploited, victims of sexual and domestic abuse, those struggling with their mental health, children with disabilities and those who are carers to other family members. These young people desperately need help, but the lack of exposure to professionals means they are going unnoticed and unsupported. But the coalition needs the help of professionals working with children to drive referrals and ensure children and young people get the support they need throughout the crisis. Nearly half (45%) of Barnardo’s front line workers who reported a change in their safeguarding caseload in the charity’s practitioners’ survey, said they had seen a decrease in referrals to their services. The biggest concern reported by Barnardo’s practitioners in the survey was that children and young people are not being physically seen by professionals. Increased mental health and wellbeing issues was the next biggest concern, followed by increased risk of domestic abuse. Frontline workers also reported that lockdown has resulted in vulnerable children and young people being turned away from the support they are entitled to and desperately need, with 8% saying this had happened to a child or young person they are working with. More than a quarter (28%) of front line workers who said what needed to be done to mitigate safeguarding risks said there needed to be continued or better partnership working among professionals. Lockdown, and school closures have meant professionals including teachers, social workers and health workers have had less contact with children. While children are less visible to professionals the most vulnerable are facing increasing danger with many locked down with families facing growing economic and emotional pressure and cut off from the usual support systems. Children have also been in lockdown in homes where domestic abuse and sexual abuse are taking place. These pressures will likely impact more families as the crisis continues. And the coronavirus pandemic means even more children could experience traumatic events which could affect their mental health as more families are plunged into poverty, domestic abuse rises and more children suffer bereavement. Black, Asian and minority ethnic children are more likely to be carers for ill or disabled family members and are more likely to suffer bereavement as the virus disproportionately affects people of colour. Barnardo’s Chief Executive Javed Khan said: “The coronavirus pandemic has meant that vulnerable children and young people are ‘hidden’ from vital support services. Many have been suffering in silence, struggling with mental health problems or abuse at home, by gangs or online. “That’s why Barnardo’s is leading a consortium of charities from across England, with support from the Department for Education, to identify and support children at risk of harm. “But for this to work, we need both professionals - and anyone in contact with vulnerable children - to be our eyes and ears and refer children in need of help. “Children have too often been unseen and unheard during this crisis and they risk becoming the forgotten victims. This initiative is a vital lifeline for the hundreds of thousands of children and young people as we navigate the pandemic and its aftermath, helping to improve their long-term outcomes so they can have successful futures.” For more information or to make a referral to the See, Hear and Respond service, visit: https://www.barnardos.org.uk/see-hear-respond Source: www.barnardos.org.uk Team Fostering is a not for profit fostering agency, with an annual turnover of over £9m, based in the North East, Yorkshire & the East Midlands. We have been successfully supporting children & young people living in foster care to achieve positive outcomes since 2001. We are now looking for Non-Executive Directors, based within this geographical footprint, who have senior-level knowledge, experience & expertise in the foster care sector and more specifically from within the independent fostering sector. We require candidates who can sign up fully to the ethical & not for profit stance which underpins all that we do to make a positive difference to the lives of children & young people. The successful candidate(s) 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 & standards of conduct. The post holder(s) will be independent of any of the company’s interested parties and bring a degree of objectivity & 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 £13,335.75 per annum. Part of this monthly commitment is attendance at a monthly Board meeting which may be held in one of our North Shields, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Sheffield or South Normanton offices. Other responsibilities and pieces of work taken on, at the direction of the Board, are paid at an hourly rate of £59.27. The closing date for application for this role is 9am on Monday 13 July 2020 and interviews are scheduled for Thursday 30 July 2020. For further information, please ring Alex Cooper, Retained Consultant on 0191 653 1049 To apply, please complete an Application Form and Equal Opportunities Form (available below) and return to hr@teamfostering.co.uk no later than 9am on Monday 13 July 2020. Please note Team Fostering does not accept CVs. Full details and application documents here Location: Hampshire Salary: £1,900 (+VAT) per Form F + £33 per hour (initial visits) + £27 per hour (support and supervision of foster carers) Closing Date: 14/07/2020 Interview Date: 23/07/2020 Hours: Variable Home based (during Covid-19); Visits and travelling required after Covid-19 pandemic
Covering Hampshire TACT is the UK’s largest specialist charity provider of fostering. Our core work involves providing high quality and well supported fostering 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. We want to develop our work in Hampshire we are seeking to recruit sessional Social Workers to undertake initial visits and assess prospective foster families. Duties may include:
Rates of Pay (depending on type of work offered)
Please see the Self-Employed Sessional Assessing Social Worker Job Information Pack for a full breakdown of the role and rates.
Closing Date: Tuesday 14th July 2020 Interviews: Thursday 23rd July 2020 (Via video-call) 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. 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. Full details and application documents here Location: Hampshire Salary: £29,700 pa + £2,000 pa Out of Hours Allowance + £500 pa Homeworking Allowance Closing Date: 14/07/2020 Interview Date: 23/07/2020 Hours: 35 hours per week TACT, the UK’s largest fostering and adoption 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 of our surplus income into service, staff, carers, and children’s development.
Our vision is to provide better lives for our children and young people. A post has arisen for a Supervising Social Worker covering the Hampshire area in this home based role. The successful candidate will be part of the wider, dynamic and forward thinking registered office in Hither Green. This role is fixed term for 6 months, with the possibility of extending this due to development and growth of the region. We are interested in individuals for whom quality of service is paramount and in those who share our commitment to working in partnership with children and their foster carers in the development of the agency. The successful candidate should also have post qualifying experience in family placement work or other child care settings as well as a good working knowledge of relevant legislation and child protection procedures. TACT offer an excellent employee benefits package including:
You will need to be DipSW, CSS or CQSW qualified and registered with Social Work England. An enhanced DBS clearance is also required and is requested for you by TACT. The successful applicant will be required to support Duty and Ouf of Hours on a rota basis and will be paid an out of hours’ allowance of £2,000 per annum once participating in the rota. Closing: Tuesday 14th July 2020 Interviews: Thursday 23rd July 2020 (via Video) 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 Location: Norwich Salary: £40,718 to £45,240 Contract Type: Permanent / Full Time (35 hours per week) Closing Date: Thursday 23 July 2020 Please note, the role will require an element of travel to other Break locations across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Break delivers a wide range of outstanding services providing exceptional outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and their families, and is looking to develop and diversify those services to increase our support and geographical spread while always striving for continuous improvement. This is an excellent opportunity to join an expanding and vibrant voluntary organisation with services located in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire and make a positive impact on young lives as a member of our Senior Leadership Team. You will be passionate about changing young lives and experienced in managing teams and staff to ensure they are able to provide the best support for our beneficiaries. The Operations Manager (Children and Families) will be leading, managing and supporting the management teams of our diverse services, which include children’s homes, fostering, short break services for children with disabilities, family assessment services and our therapeutic provision. You will work across Break working to ensure that our services work collaboratively whilst ensuring regulatory compliance. We aspire to excellence and employ experienced, resilient, skilful and creative senior managers to inspire our service delivery and provide support to our teams. You will have a background in delivering services to children and young people either with a social work qualification or a relevant professional qualification. We welcome those experienced in delivering excellent residential child care. If you would like to discuss the post please contact Rachel Cowdry on 01603 670100 or email on Rachel.cowdry@break-charity.org. Closing Date: 23rd July 2020 Interview dates: 31st July for Safe Care/Warner Interviews / 3rd August for Formal Panel Full details here Location: Norwich Salary: £47,505 - £52,782 (up to £58,61 relating to performance) (Pay award pending) Contract Type: Permanent / Full Time Closing Date: Thursday 16 July 2020 About us
Break has been delivering care to children, young people and their families for over 50 years. We have a wide range of services (majority of which are Ofsted regulated) spanning Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk and have a growth agenda across the region for the next 3-5 years. About you We are seeking an experienced, dynamic senior manager who has the drive and commitment to lead our care services and support our improving for excellence agenda. You will be a qualified social worker with experience of leading multiple teams or work streams, with a commitment to driving forward a range of improvement agendas across all services. You will have a track record of developing talent, effectively leading and building teams. With excellent communication and interpersonal skills, you will be confident building and maintaining relationships, both internally and externally and will have a relentless focus on positive outcomes, creating new and better means to achieve service success. We're looking for a proactive can-do individual who can hit the ground running, demonstrating positive impact through engagement and outstanding outcomes. We would welcome candidates with experience of a wide spectrum of children, young people and family services, including residential child care. If you feel you have the skills, experience and drive to join this dynamic and successful charity we would like to hear from you as soon as possible. In return, we will offer you a supportive work environment with a fantastic team, and a smarter working approach to nurture your career with us. We need you to help us “change young lives” Closing date: 16th July 2020 Interview dates: Warner/Safe Care on 28th July/ Formal on 29th July Contact Rachel Cowdry for an informal discussion on 07834 130443 or email rachel.cowdry@break-charity.org Full details here Circa: £33,000, plus on call allowance Department/Division: England North Location: Fareham, Hampshire Contract Type: Permanent Full Time Closing Date: 10 July 2020 The role
Our Wessex Fostering service in Hampshire provides long and short-term foster placements predominantly for children aged eight years and over. We continuously aim to provide safe, secure and stable family placements within the community so that young people can experience a positive model of life and for the future. We want to fully understand our children and young people in order to provide a tailored plan to support their needs and ensure they are able to build positive relationships with others. We are a small, developing fostering service, located in Fareham but covering the Hampshire and surrounding areas. Your base will be in the Fareham office. You will be responsible for providing professional supervision and developmental support to foster carers, including advice and guidance to fostering families. 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. You will be required to provide telephone on call support for our foster carers which is currently up to a maximum of 4 nights per month (approx.) for our England wide on call service. Our team including foster carers are trained to a high standard; understanding attachment and trauma work along with specific interventions We are looking for a Fostering Supervising 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 which will include some evening and weekend working. This is office based but there maybe the possibility of home working. You will be responsible for providing professional supervision and developmental support to foster carers, including advice and guidance to fostering families. 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. You will be required to provide telephone on call support for our foster carers which is currently up to a maximum of 4 nights per month (approx.) for our England wide on call service. Our team including foster carers are trained to a high standard; understanding attachment and trauma work along with specific interventions 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 more information, please contact Maria Sorrentino on 07917482469 or email recruitmentservice@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 |
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