Location: Barnardo's Scotland Fostering Edinburgh Contract type: Permanent Hours:37 Salary: £23,545 - 31,833 Closing Date: 13 November 2019 Interview Date: TBC Barnardo's Scotland Fostering Edinburgh Team are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Children's Worker to join our Fostering Team. Relevant experience in direct work with children and young people is desirable. The post holder is required to have valid a driving license as travel forms an essential part of the role (where appropriate reasonable adjustments will be considered for candidates covered by the Equality Act who are unable to obtain a driving license). A recognized childcare qualification is essential.
The post is full-time and flexible arrangements can be considered in line with the service priorities. The post is based in Edinburgh. 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 And what does it matter? Some don’t care. I really do. I think it matters a lot. The debate rages on, yet seems to me to be underpinned by everyone wanting the same thing - the argument, both for and against ‘parent’ or ‘carer’ rests, for everyone, on which is most respectful of the skilled, sophisticated work that people who foster do, uniquely in their own homes. That latter point is significant; of all the people who engage with the challenges that our children face - teachers, social workers, police officers, therapists etc - only the people who foster, do that work in their own homes. I was recently struck almost speechless by a very nice chap who came to enquire about fostering. He was heading towards early retirement, having been a Clinical Nurse in a CAMHS team for many years. He was thinking of fostering, once retired, and was hoping to have ‘the easy ones’ placed. Moment, of jaw on chest. Easy ones? Did he think that all those kids in care he’d seen over the years were living somewhere other than foster homes? Or perhaps that, once back in those foster homes, their life traumas and challenges were put to one side? Every practitioner, other than fostering folk, sees our kids intermittently, for perhaps an hour or so at a time, and consider that they are doing important work with challenging young people. How, then, does it happen that the practitioners who spend hour after hour, evening after evening, weekend after weekend alongside those same young people, are perceived to be doing work that is less skilled, less sophisticated and less important? Which brings me back to the question of parent vs carer....time to declare our position, and to mark a spot in the evolutionary timeline...we’re for foster parent, not because we’re harking back to an old identity, but because the task - the unique task - is one of professional parenting, which is therefore a unique identity - a type of professional practitioner like no other. To be a foster parent decades ago, pre-1970s - or a ‘house parent’ in residential settings - was to be a low paid, low skilled someone who made beds and cooked meals and washed clothes...you know...the sort of thing women did, that never mattered to anyone (eyebrow raised, polemically) so wasn’t paid well, if at all. Kids, eh, not a proper job, obvs. Then there was a bit of a revolution, and folk who fostered began to get paid better, and began to gain some traction to be taken seriously. Part of that campaign, was a distancing, away from that identity of low paid, low skilled ‘just a parent’, with the introduction of ‘carer’, to reflect a greater, more professional status. But here’s the thing - ‘carer’, these days, is used for someone who pops into the homes of old or disabled folk, in a uniform or tabard, to help with essential tasks that have become difficult, then they leave, after sometimes only a few minutes. Or it describes other family members who care for relatives out of love and duty, helping with those same essential tasks, often informally. As noble and marvellous as those positions are, neither are parenting, and children who cannot live with their own families, or whose parents cannot perform the parenting task adequately, need new families, and people who can parent them. And yet, of course, foster parents work within a highly regulated, highly scrutinised environment - they’re not just parents - they are professional parents. Their challenge, is for the child to feel that they are a new, loving parent - in an ordinary family home - whilst their colleagues feel confident in them as a fellow professional, with all the required vigilance and safeguarding, and thinking on their feet...in their own, ordinary, family homes. Good ol’ Nadhim got it, passing through as Children’s Minister: “I like to call them parents because I think what they are actually doing is parenting.... I think what foster parents do is incredible; the ones that I have spoken to see themselves as parents.” http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/education-committee/accountability-hearings/oral/80552.pdf%20 (Q667) There is a retort that children themselves do not want just another professional in their life. That’s right - they want, they crave, a good parent. And to be that person - stepping in to do the parenting - means working within a professional framework, meeting professional expectations, and having additional skills and qualities that most parents do not need. The concept of professional parenting ain’t complicated, if you truly understand and value the work, and we posit, strongly, that proper recognition for foster parents needs to be embedded in proper understanding of what they do. Inadequate understanding leads to unacceptable diminishing and undermining - eroding of confidence and potency - and why would we do that to our children. 'Fosteringmum’ does a lovely job of describing her experience, worth a read beyond these couple of excerpts, and I’m leaving her with the final word: “No one questions whether my husband as a management consultant and a father can be both professional and parent – nor my father (a civil engineer and a parent and grandparent), nor my brother (a doctor and a father), nor my cousin (a teacher and a mother). Why should it be any different for me as a foster carer? I am both professional and parent – that is who I am, who I choose to be. Who has the right to tell me I am not? I can tell you that I give just as much attention to my professional development and how I conduct myself in my foster carer role as I did in my previous job – there are standards I must achieve, communications and reports I need to draft clearly and concisely, training I must complete and processes and procedures with which I should comply.... ...AND THEN, as a foster mum, I do all those things that I did as a birth parent with my own children – I take my little one to Baby Ballet class and Baby swimming, I hold her close when she has her vaccinations, I potty-train, I teach her to use a knife and fork, recognise colours, count to ten. I sing with her, I take her to the zoo, I stack wooden blocks over and over again so she can delight in pushing them over, I lie on my stomach on the floor and push cars around. I braid her hair and I kiss her tummy when I change her nappy. And yes, I love her. And I do all these things knowing that one day (possibly soon) I will let her go to her forever family. I do them in the knowledge that I do not have parental responsibility for her. I do them whilst facilitating her contact with her birth family and protecting myself against the possibility of a complaint or allegation....I am me and I am her mum – her FOSTER mum. I am a professional foster parent.” https://fosteringmum.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/professional-or-parent/ Source: www.nafp.co.uk Chelmsford Salary £42,000 - £50,000 depending on experience 37.5 hours per week Permanent St Christopher’s is seeking an experienced and dynamic professional to support and develop our fostering services across the Eastern Region including Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Peterborough, Essex, Bedfordshire and the London borders.
If you have a successful track record of recruiting foster carers and providing the training and support necessary to build a thriving fostering business, we want to hear from you. About Us St Christopher's is an established children’s charity that has provided care for vulnerable children and young people for almost 150 years. We provide fostering, children's homes and a range of innovative housing and support services across London, Bedfordshire, West Midlands and the Isle of Man. We really care about children and young people, placing them at the centre of everything we do. We ask young people what they think and involve them in decision making, from helping to shape new services to interviewing new members of staff. Our social pedagogic approach is our core philosophy of care. Put simply this is a holistic approach for building positive relationships with young people to bring out their inner “diamond”. This is a unique opportunity for you to build a fostering team that can deliver high standards of service and achieve excellent outcomes for children. You will be backed by St Christopher’s centrally co-ordinated and targeted recruitment campaigns and supported by marketing colleagues. Key aspects of the Role:
Applicants should have:
In return we offer:
Recruitment Process At St Christopher’s we are committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people in our care. During the recruitment process you will be expected to complete an online application form to ensure we capture essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements. Applicants will ideally already be on the DBS Update Service; if this is not the case St Christopher's will carry out a DBS (police) check prior to starting. Your online application must include a supporting statement addressing the criteria stated in the Person Specification. For the full Person Specification click here For more information or assistance during the application process, please contact recruitment@stchris.org.uk Closing Date: 18th November 2019 Interviews: 25th November 2019 We currently have offices in London, Chelmsford and West Midlands – Interviews will be held at our Chelmsford Office St Christopher’s is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community as well as applications from candidates with care experience or experience of being a care leaver. Full details and application details here Location: Barnardo's Scotland Fostering Edinburgh Contract type: Permanent Hours: 37 Salary : £28,631 - £37,414 Closing Date: 13 November 2019 Barnardo's Scotland Fostering Edinburgh is looking for a committed social care professional with a sound knowledge of fostering legislation and practice issues to join our Fostering Team. You will be involved in the recruitment, training and supervision of Foster Carers within the Edinburgh service.
As a qualified and registered social worker, you will have experience of family placement work and preferably experience of foster care practice, including the assessment of potential foster carers. A good knowledge of fostering regulations, child care law and safeguarding issues is essential. You will have excellent communication skills and a commitment to high quality practice. The role of the supervising social worker is an exciting and a stimulating one that involves providing intensive support to foster carers and their families to enable them to provide the very best quality of care to the vulnerable children they look after. You will be a team player, a good communicator and a skilled and self-motivated professional, with the ability to work flexibly. As well as managing your caseload, you will be part of a duty rota to support the running of the service, both within and outside of normal office hours. There is also an expectation that you will be involved in delivering training to prospective and existing foster carers. You will have a strong commitment to promoting and safeguarding the wellbeing of children, but you will also have an appreciation of the demands that come with working for a high quality voluntary fostering service in an increasingly competitive environment. Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore are open to offering flexible working arrangements. 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 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 Permanent - Office Based - Leeds Part Time - 21 Hours Per Week £14,580 Per Annum (£24,300 Pro Rata) Closing Date: 25/11/2019 Interview Date: 04/12/2019 TACT, the UK’s largest fostering and adoption charity. Formed in 1993, we now have 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.
This is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic, enthusiastic, highly-motivated individual with experience in administration within the social care field to join the recently merged Yorkshire and North East Area Team as the Fostering Placement Officer. The Fostering Placement Officer is responsible for receiving foster care placement requests for children and matching them to our foster carers on behalf of the Area Manager and in close cooperation with the Duty Social Worker. The Fostering Placement Officer role requires exceptional communication skills and discretion, sensitivity and the capability to deal with conflicting priorities at times. The successful candidate will bring experience in a social care and health setting working with children/young people and current knowledge of safeguarding procedures to the Fostering Placement Officer role. General office experience and knowledge of Microsoft packages is also essential, along with excellent communication skills and the ability to build a rapport and a positive working relationships with external partnership agencies. The Fostering Placement Officer’s core duties includes:
TACT offer an excellent benefits package including:
Please see the job description and applicant information booklet for full details. A standard DBS check will be required and carried out by TACT on your behalf. Closing: Midnight on Monday 25th November 2019 Interviews: Wednesday 4th December 2019 - TACT Yorkshire (LS14 6FD) 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 Hours: Permanent, Full Time (35 hours p/w) Salary: £47,505 - £52,782 pa depending on qualifications and skills (salary range extends to £58,061 based on performance) We are seeking a qualified (ACCA or equivalent), highly motivated and effective accountant to become our Head of Finance. This is the most senior professional finance role within our complex £10M turnover organisation. The Head of Finance will lead our small but highly effective finance team and be responsible for all aspects of financial management from budget compilation to completion and submission of audited year end accounts.
With strong post qualification experience, you will be accustomed to budget preparation and control and will be confident when presenting complex reports and updates to varying audiences. An excellent problem-solver, you will have great attention to detail, ensuring accuracy at all times and monitoring all accounting functions to ensure they are effectively operated. We are looking for a Head of Finance who can deliver in a fast paced, changing environment, ideally has experience of managing and developing finance teams effectively, and is also keen to learn, grow and drive forward continual improvements in our service. Due to the nature of the role, it is essential that you have a driving licence and access to a vehicle. 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 management team. 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 constant improvement. Break is changing young lives across East Anglia by supporting children, young people and families in four key areas as we continue to grow and diversify to meet changing needs:
For more information on this job opportunity, please initially email or call Mike Hudson, Resources and Commercial Services Director via the contact details found on our website Closing date: Sunday 1st December 2019 Interview date: Wednesday 18th December 2019 Source: https://break-charity.current-vacancies.com |
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