Giving children and young people the foundations they need to thrive.

The role
Action for Children Fostering South East, is one service, based on two sites. Our London office is in central London (WC2B 5DG). We also have a Kent service based in Ramsgate.  We have foster carers in various and widespread areas of London and Kent.

We are not a large service, but we are long established, and have committed, skilled and experienced foster carers who are able to provide stable, nurturing family homes for children and young people who for various reasons aren't able to be cared for in their birth families.

Our children, young people and carers are supported and by a very experienced and skilled staff team. One of the strengths that our foster carers often comment on is that our service has a ‘family' feel to it.

We are looking for an outstanding Fostering Social Worker who can support placements in the London and surrounding area, so flexibility to travel across this cluster as and when needed is imperative for this role.  You will also have the opportunity to assess applicants to foster. During Covid times, we support agile / homeworking with the expectation to progress back into our office base in WC2B 5DG, when we can, with continued flexibility and a mix of home, office and travel to meet children and carers where they are. 

You will make a difference by:

• Providing professional supervision and developmental support, including advice and guidance to fostering families and working with other professionals where appropriate. The role includes being part of an Out of Hours Telephone Support Service (through participation in rota) providing support 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year.
• Completing complex assessments of applicants to foster, making appropriate recommendations, with a view to ensure outcome focused achievements for children, young people and families.
• Supporting fostering families to look after children and young people who have experienced trauma and , ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to enable them to undertake this complex task within a family home environment, undertaking fostering reviews, providing high quality, analytical reports and presenting to Panel where appropriate, ensuring that children are receiving the best service possible.
• Being accountable for ensuring statutory compliance in respect of notifications, etc and meet regulatory body requirements at all times re registration.
• Enthusiasm for learning and development, for yourself as a reflective practitioner, and in support of our carer training – this is a learning organisation.

 
You will need:

• A Social Work qualification and 2yrs + post qualification experience.
• Registration with Social Work England.
• To understand your role as a supervisor to carers and a team member.
• Ability to manage your work to deadlines and comply with regulatory requirements.
• Strong ethos of keeping the child at the centre.
• Strong commitment to work within our therapeutic framework to support the needs of children.
• Capacity to plan and prioritise, to use electronic records system and IT effectively including participating in virtual meetings and webinars.
• Experience of fostering is preferable.
• Access to a suitable means of transport to undertake the duties of the role required. Travel across the area is essential.

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 further questions about this role, please contact Lynsey.Munro@actionforchildren.org.uk in our recruitment team.

It's vital for our services to be able to recruit and support adopters / Foster carers from a diverse range of backgrounds to reflect the children who need families. We therefore actively seek to replicate that diversity in our staff, and we positively welcome the wide breadth of experience, knowledge and understanding that this will bring to our services.

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.

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.

Full details and application documents here

FTC until March 2023 working 18.5 hours per week which can be negotiated at interview stage but must be worked within the hours of 8:30am to 4:30pm Monday to Thursday.

Giving children and young people the foundations, they need to thrive.

The role
Skills Plus+ is a psychosocial skill building intervention for Care Experienced Young People (CEYP) aged between 14 and 24. We provide a therapeutic informed intervention through DBT and CBT methodology to improve the emotional and social well-being of our service users.

The service is for CEYP who experience significant distress and relationship difficulties, showing low mood and depressive tendencies, struggling to maintain consistency and who may not be fulfilling their potential. We also focus on employability. Together, we are working to give young people the practical and emotional life skills to enable them to transition into happy, healthy adults.

Are you a passionate and empathic individual with a positive attitude, who is willing to go the extra mile to improve the transition period for CEYP? If so, come join our team. We are currently recruiting for Young Persons Workers to work in our Skills Plus + service. This post will be working with Care Experienced Young People aged between 14 – 24 across Cardiff and Vale.

You will make a difference by:

• Supporting an already established team of Young Person Practitioners (YPP), your role will be to co-facilitate CBT groups to promote positive thoughts and relationships.
  
• Using CBT tools to encourage engagement with CEYP and to also explore emotions and improve their health and wellbeing.
  
• Building and maintaining positive relationships and committing to providing a safe environment.
  
• Attending meetings with other key individuals involved in the care of a Service User and completing relevant paperwork.
  
• Conducting 1:1 sessions with service users at low risk and possible joint shared case work with YPP

We are looking for a person who has:

• An active interest in psychology and well-being.
  
• A positive and proactive approach.
  
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
  
• Ability to build and maintain excellent rapport with service users and professionals.
  
• Sound knowledge and understanding of Safeguarding.
  
• IT Literate.
  
• Driver's Licence and have access to own car.
  
• Awareness and empathy of the issues Young People may face in care.

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 Fatima Matin on 07918773592.

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.

Caerdydd a'r Fro, Cymru

Oddeutu £17,600 y flwyddyn pro rata

Cytundeb Cyfnod Penodedig tan fis Mawrth 2023, 18.5 awr yr wythnos. Gellir negodi'r union oriau adeg y cyfweliad, ond rhaid iddynt gael eu gweithio rhwng 8:30am a 4:30pm rhwng dydd Llun a dydd Iau.

Gosod y sylfeini i blant a phobl ifanc ffynnu. 

Y rôl
Mae Sgiliau+ yn ymyriad seicogymdeithasol sy'n adeiladu sgiliau pobl ifanc â phrofiad o ofal rhwng 14 a 24 oed. Rydym yn darparu ymyriad therapiwtig sy'n defnyddio Therapi Ymddygiad Dilechdidol a methodoleg Therapi Ymddygiad Gwybyddol i wella lles emosiynol a chymdeithasol y rhai sy'n defnyddio'r gwasanaeth.

Dyma wasanaeth ar gyfer pobl ifanc â phrofiad o ofal sy'n dioddef trallod sylweddol ac anawsterau gyda pherthnasoedd ac sy'n cael anhawster cynnal cysondeb, sy'n dangos tueddiad tuag at hwyliau isel neu iselder, ac a fydd, yn ôl pob tebyg, yn methu â chyrraedd eu potensial. Rydym yn canolbwyntio ar gyflogadwyedd hefyd. Gyda'n gilydd, rydym yn gweithio i arfogi pobl ifanc â sgiliau byw ymarferol ac emosiynol fel y gallant ddod yn oedolion hapus ac iach.

Ydych chi'n unigolyn brwd ac empathig gydag agwedd gadarnhaol sy'n fodlon rhoi o'ch gorau i wella cyfnod pontio Pobl Ifanc â Phrofiad o Ofal? Os felly, dewch i ymuno â'r tîm. Rydym yn chwilio am Weithwyr Pobl Ifanc i weithio yn y gwasanaeth Sgiliau+. Byddwch yn gweithio gyda Phobl Ifanc â Phrofiad o Ofal rhwng 14 a 24 oed ledled Caerdydd a Bro Morgannwg.

Byddwch yn gwneud gwahaniaeth trwy:

• Cefnogi tîm sefydlog o Ymarferwyr Pobl Ifainc; byddwch yn cyd-hwyluso grwpiau Therapi Ymddygiad Gwybyddol i hyrwyddo meddwl cadarnhaol a pherthnasoedd.
  
• Defnyddio offer Therapi Ymddygiad Gwybyddol i hyrwyddo ymwneud Pobl Ifanc â Phrofiad o Ofal, ac hefyd i ystyried eu hemosiynau a gwella eu hiechyd a llesiant.
  
• Adeiladu a chynnal perthnasoedd cadarnhaol ac ymrwymo i sicrhau awyrgylch diogel.
  
• Mynychu cyfarfodydd gydag unigolion allweddol eraill sy'n ymwneud â gofal yr unigolyn a chwblhau'r gwaith papur perthnasol.
  
• Cynnal sesiynau unigol gyda defnyddwyr y gwasanaeth sydd â risg isel, ac o bosibl gwaith achos ar y cyd ag Ymarferwyr Pobl Ifanc.

Rydym yn chwilio am rywun sydd:

• Â diddordeb gweithgar mewn seicoleg a llesiant.
  
• Ymagwedd gadarnhaol a rhagweithiol.
  
• Sgiliau rhyngbersonol rhagorol.
  
• Y gallu i adeiladu a chynnal perthynas ragorol â defnyddwyr y gwasanaeth a gweithwyr proffesiynol.
  
• Gwybodaeth a dealltwriaeth drylwyr o Ddiogelu.
  
• Sgiliau TG effeithiol.
  
• Trwydded yrru a cherbyd sydd ar gael iddo ei ddefnyddio.
  
• Ymwybyddiaeth o'r problemau a wynebir gan Bobl Ifanc mewn gofal, ac empathi â nhw.

Sut yr ydym yn gweithio
Rydym yn gweithio i sicrhau bod pob plentyn a pherson ifanc yn derbyn y cariad, cymorth a chyfle sydd eu hangen er mwyn iddo gyrraedd ei botensial. Os ydych yn rhannu'r un weledigaeth, rydym am i chi ymuno â'r tîm. Cewch ddarllen rhagor yma am ein gwerthoedd a'n gweithredoedd i ddeall ein ffordd o weithio.

Y Gwobrwyon
Rydym am i'n staff deimlo eu bod yn cael eu gwerthfawrogi am y gwaith hanfodol a wnânt. Pan fyddwch yn gweithio gyda ni, byddwn yn cydnabod eich ymdrechion gyda gwyliau blynyddol hael, cynllun pensiwn cynhwysfawr lle mae'r cyflogwr yn cyfrannu'r un faint â chi, ac ystod o fargeinion a disgowntiau trwy ein porth buddion. Cewch ragor o wybodaeth am fuddion Gweithredu dros Blant yma.


Sicrhau plentyndod diogel a hapus

Mae Gweithredu dros Blant yn diogelu a chefnogi plant a phobl ifanc, gan ddarparu gofal emosiynol a chymorth, gan sicrhau gwrando arnynt, a chan ymgyrchu dros welliannau hir-dymor yn eu bywydau. Y llynedd, bu i ni helpu dros 387,000 o blant a theuluoedd ledled y Deyrnas Unedig.

Am ragor o wybodaeth, cysylltwch â Fatima Matin drwy ffonio 07918773592.

Rydym wedi ymrwymo i ymarfer recriwtio diogelach i ddiogelu defnyddwyr ein gwasanaethau. Disgwylir, felly, y bydd pob ymgeisydd yn deall ac yn ymrwymo i arfer gorau o ran diogelu.

Mae Gweithredu dros Blant yn angerddol dros hyrwyddo ansawdd, gwerthfawrogi amrywiaeth a gweithio mewn modd cynhwysol. Rydym yn croesawu ceisiadau gan bawb sydd â'r cymwysterau perthnasol, yn arbennig pobl ag anabledd a phobl o gefndir Du, Asiaidd, ac o Gefndiroedd Ethnig Lleiafrifol, gan fod y grwpiau hyn wedi'u tangynrychioli yn ein gweithlu ar hyn o bryd.

Full details and application documents here
​

Children’s charities have stepped up their campaign to call for an end to private care companies profiteering from fostering.

The campaign group Fairer Fostering Partnership (FFP) has launched a social media push using the hashtag #forchildrennotprofit, to promote commissioning care placements using not-for-profit and charitable fostering agencies, rather than commercial fostering firms.

The group is concerned that commercial fostering organisations are owned by private and venture capital companies that make “significant profits for shareholders”.

Instead, the FFP believes that any profit from foster care should be re-invested into children’s services.

“Excessive profit has no place in the care of vulnerable children,” says the group.

It adds: “FFP members work purely for children, not for profit, and in a financially strapped sector funded by taxpayers helping thousands of vulnerable children in care, it is important that local authorities and foster carers are able to make an informed choice as to which fostering providers they work with."

FFP members include Action for Children, Barnardo’s and The Adolescent and Children’s Trust (TACT).

TACT chief executive and FFP chair Andy Elvin said: “All our members’ resources are invested in meeting the needs of vulnerable children and young people, and not in making a profit from them.

“This transparency and accountability is welcomed by local authorities and foster carers alike, but we need to continue promoting the message that excessive profits are being made by some agencies at a time when there is less money in the system. That clearly can’t be a good thing for children in care.”

This week the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) also raised concerns about the use of profit-making companies to provide children’s care.

Its 2021 position paper says there is a “worrying increase in the number of large organisations, backed by private equity investors, entering into children’s residential and fostering services”.

It adds “the ability of private equity companies to extract huge profit from the care of children is concerning, as is the level of debt and the implications that financial failure would mean for children and young people”.

Source:
www.cypnow.co.uk/

Giving children and young people the foundation's they need to thrive.

The role.
Action for Children have been commissioned by Derbyshire County Council, Derby City Council and Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group to deliver an innovative new service primarily targeted at improving the emotional wellbeing and resilience of children in care.

As a Children's Services Manager you will work with a range of professionals including Clinical Psychologist's and Lead Therapeutic Practitioners to ensure the children and young people you support develop to their full potential. You will lead, inspire and motivate your team to hold the highest aspirations for children and young people and will liaise closely with our partners to ensure compliance and excellence. We will actively support you in your role and provide you and your team with specialist training, development and supervision.

Ideally you will be social work qualified and have extensive experience of working with children and young people with a a strong background in managing targeted interventions for children and young people's emotional and mental health alongside project management experience as you will be required to continue to implement and embed a new multifaceted countywide service for children in care, care leavers and other identified groups.

The postholder will be based at the Derby City or Chesterfield.

You will make a difference by:

• Promoting the highest standards of safeguarding practice through leading and managing processes and action around safeguarding, fearlessly speaking out for children, families and young people.
• Providing leadership, operational management to develop a cluster of Action for Children's services to children, young people and their families, ensuring high quality delivery to meet commissioners' expectations and contractual requirements.
• Ensuring service delivery complies with all statutory regulations and establish performance levels that lead to outstanding or good rating in external inspection; if appropriate, to act as the Registered Manager for a service and any other regulatory requirements as directed.
• Managing and lead a team of professional social care and support staff, to deliver services to meet regulatory and organisational requirements.
• Delivering best practice through application and embedding of effective case management and reflective supervision across the cluster

You will need:

• Ideally a Social Work or other qualification relevant to the services within the remit of this post.
• Evidence of ongoing management training and development.
• Experience of delivering emotional well-being services to CYP.
• Significant experience of managing and developing operational services for children, young   people and their families.
• Experience of leading, motivating and managing a range of social care and support staff to deliver quality social care services.

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 Anne Marie Wilson on 07507144873 or email anne-marie.wilson@actionforchildren.org.uk 

Interviews will take place on 21st May over Microsoft Teams

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

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:

• Providing effective leadership, management, and direction for a team of professional social workers, including consistent supervision that is routed in the Homes model and Therapeutic Thinking.
• Support the Registered manager to monitor and evaluate and reflect on service quality to contribute to a culture of continuous improvement.
• Promoting the agencies reputation by building effective working relationships with key partners, including where necessary constructive challenge to promote advocacy for young people.

 You will need:

• A degree in Social Work or equivalent.
• Current HCPC registration.
• Supervisory experience in a regulatory environment. 
• Ability to keep the service regulatory safe.
• Strong ethos of keeping the child at the centre.
• Strong sense of ability to support therapeutic needs of children.
• A stable career history and experience of fostering services.
• Access to a suitable means of transport to undertake the duties of the role required. Travel across Middlesbrough and the North East area is essential.

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 details here

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 Changing Minds psychology services who support us, and our therapeutic work with children and young people.

You will make a difference by:

• Providing professional supervision and developmental support, including advice and guidance to fostering families and colleagues from other agencies where appropriate, including being part of an Out of Hours Service (through participation in rota) providing support 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year
• Completing complex assessments of foster carers, making appropriate recommendations, which may require liaison or referral of complex cases to the Team Manager, with a view to ensure outcome focused achievements for children, young people and families.
• Supporting fostering families to look after children and young people who have experienced trauma and abuse, ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to enable them to undertake this complex task within a family home environment, undertaking fostering reviews, providing high quality, analytical reports and presenting to Panel where appropriate, ensuring that children are receiving the best service possible.
• Being accountable for ensuring statutory compliance in respect of notifications, etc and meet regulatory body requirements at all times re registration.

You will need:

• Diploma in Social Work or equivalent.
• Current HCPC registration.
• Supervisory experience in a regulatory environment. 
• Ability to keep the service regulatory safe.
• Strong ethos of keeping the child at the centre.
• Strong sense of ability to support therapeutic needs of children.
• A stable career history and experience of fostering services.
• Access to a suitable means of transport to undertake the duties of the role required. Travel across Middlesbrough and the North East area is essential.

 
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.

It's vital for our services to be able to recruit and support adopters / Foster carers from a diverse range of backgrounds to reflect the children who need families. We therefore actively seek to replicate that diversity in our staff, and we positively welcome the wide breadth of experience, knowledge and understanding that this will bring to our services.

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

Giving children and young people the foundations they need to thrive.

The role
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 strive to provide a good quality of care to young people, always ensuring they are the centre of our approach.

We are looking for an outstanding Fostering Social Worker who can support placements from the Devon/Somerset borders to Cornwall - so flexibility to travel across this cluster as and when needed is imperative for this role.  You will also have the opportunity to assess applicants to foster. This role is fixed term until June 2022.  During Covid times, we support agile / homeworking with the expectation to progress back into our office base when we can, with continued flexibility and a mix of home, office and travel to meet children and carers where they are. 

You will make a difference by:

• Providing professional supervision and developmental support, including advice and guidance to fostering families and working with other professionals where appropriate. The role includes being part of an Out of Hours Telephone Support Service (through participation in rota) providing support 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year.
• Completing complex assessments of applicants to foster, making appropriate recommendations, with a view to ensure outcome focused achievements for children, young people and families.
• Supporting fostering families to look after children and young people who have experienced trauma and , ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to enable them to undertake this complex task within a family home environment, undertaking fostering reviews, providing high quality, analytical reports and presenting to Panel where appropriate, ensuring that children are receiving the best service possible.
• Being accountable for ensuring statutory compliance in respect of notifications, etc and meet regulatory body requirements at all times re registration.
• Enthusiasm for learning and development, for yourself as a reflective practitioner, and in support of our carer training – this is a learning organisation.

 
You will need:

• A Social Work qualification.
• Registration with Social Work England.
• To understand your role as a supervisor to carers and a team member.
• Ability to manage your work to deadlines and comply with regulatory requirements.
• Strong ethos of keeping the child at the centre.
• Strong commitment to work within our therapeutic framework to support the needs of children.
• Capacity to plan and prioritise, to use electronic records system and IT effectively including participating in virtual meetings and webinars.
• Experience of fostering is preferable.
• Access to a suitable means of transport to undertake the duties of the role required. Travel across the Peninsula area is essential.

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 further questions about this role, please contact Lynsey.Munro@actionforchildren.org.uk in our recruitment team.

It's vital for our services to be able to recruit and support adopters / Foster carers from a diverse range of backgrounds to reflect the children who need families. We therefore actively seek to replicate that diversity in our staff, and we positively welcome the wide breadth of experience, knowledge and understanding that this will bring to our services.

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.

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.

Full details and application documents here

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

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:

• Providing professional supervision and developmental support, including advice and guidance to fostering families and colleagues from other agencies where appropriate, including being part of an Out of Hours Service (through participation in rota) providing support 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year
• -Completing complex assessments of foster carers, making appropriate recommendations, which may require liaison or referral of complex cases to the Team Manager, with a view to ensure outcome focused achievements for children, young people and families.
• Supporting fostering families to look after children and young people who have experienced trauma and abuse, ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to enable them to undertake this complex task within a family home environment, undertaking fostering reviews, providing high quality, analytical reports and presenting to Panel where appropriate, ensuring that children are receiving the best service possible.
• Being accountable for ensuring statutory compliance in respect of notifications, etc and meet regulatory body requirements at all times re registration.

You will need:

• A Diploma in Social Work or equivalent.
• Current HCPC registration.
• Supervisory experience in a regulatory environment. 
• Ability to keep the service regulatory safe.
• Strong ethos of keeping the child at the centre.
• Strong sense of ability to support therapeutic needs of children.
• A stable career history and experience of fostering services.
• Access to a suitable means of transport to undertake the duties of the role required. Travel across Middlesbrough and the North East area is essential.

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/