Barnardo's foster carers are sharing their inspiring stories during the charity's Fostering Week

Since Barnardo’s first fostering campaign ten years ago, the charity has found loving foster families to care for vulnerable children more than 8,200 times.

Tony Foulkes and his wife Cathie, have welcomed five children into their homes over the last nine years. For Cathie and Tony fostering proved to be life changing both for the children they have fostered and for themselves. They currently care for two children.

Tony said: “We love it. Tony said: “They are a lovely and they keep us on our toes. We have so much fun with them. I would definitely recommend fostering to others. There is support there for you and you know you are doing something good.”

Cathie, who works part-time for a local hospice, said: “All children are challenging but as long as you set up routines and stick to them the children respond. We constantly reassure them that they can talk to us about anything, we are there for them. When they leave us but still take the time to visit or phone us to tell us they love us, that’s the reward – and they keep us young!”

Since Barnardo’s first fostering campaign ten years ago, the charity has found loving foster families to care for vulnerable children more than 8,200 times. Over the decade, the number of children in care in England has risen by 27 per cent.

Without more foster carers Barnardo’s could struggle to find the right carers to look after children.

This is why the charity is appealing to people to find out about how they can become foster carers and help change a child’s live.

Foster carers need to live in the right location and be available when a vulnerable child needs a loving family and have the right training and skills.

This could be particularly difficult for those children who are disabled, have siblings, are older, or from a religious or minority ethnic background. It is important for their needs to be met and for any child to be given the opportunity to continue their religious or cultural beliefs with foster carers who are able to support this.

Barnardo’s Chief Executive Javed Khan said: “Every child deserves a safe and happy childhood. We urgently need more foster carers to ensure that children in care have just this.

“We know that being a foster carer can be challenging, but we also know how incredibly rewarding it is and have seen first-hand the positive difference it can make to a child’s life.

“Barnardo’s is with carers every step of the way providing training and support throughout the whole fostering journey, from the first enquiry, through the approval process, to when carers meet their first foster child and beyond.”

To find out more about becoming a foster carer or the support Barnardo’s can offer visit: https://www.barnardos.org.uk/what-we-do/fostering-and-adoption or call 0800 0277 280.

Source:
https://www.barnardos.org.uk

Additional Information for Fostering Social Worker
You will have received a Social Worker job description and person specification for a Family Placement Social Worker. This is a generic role in use throughout the organisation however you will be employed to work as a Fostering Social Worker in the South East and based in the Fostering Service in Southborough.

When completing your application form, please refer to the skills, knowledge and experience required as detailed in the Person Specification and also any further information included in the Additional Information Sheet.

Please note that an appropriate Social Work qualification and HCPC registration are essential for this role.

The duties of this post require the applicant to have a full current driving license that enables them to drive in the UK and have use of a car and business use insurance.  Barnardo's is, however, willing to review any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by other means.

The post-holder may be required to work on some evenings and very occasional weekends to enhance the work of the service in meeting the needs of foster carers and their children. The post-holder will be required to travel to foster carers across the South East area. You will also be required to contribute to an out of hours helpline for foster carer carers in our service which includes an additional allowance.

History of Service
Barnardo's is the largest UK children's charity with over 100 years of experience with successfully placing children & young people with families. You will join our Family Placement team which has over 30 fostering and short break services across the UK.

Purpose of Service
Barnardo's South East Family Placement Team has been in operation for over 30 years and we recruit, train and assist a diverse range of families to provide fostering placements for children and young people of all ages, abilities, culture, including sibling groups, remand, parent and child placements and Staying Put arrangements.

Initial Specific Responsibilities
You will be joining a small and evolving team of social workers, manager and administration staff including a recruitment/placements officer and project worker.  Our aim is to expand our service to increase our pool of foster carers so we can provide quality placements to meet the needs of vulnerable children and young people.  We also wish to innovate in terms of the voice of the young person, participation events and more creative and diverse ways to prop our carers and the children and young people in placement.

You will be expected to carry out all aspects of the supervising social worker role in the fostering service from foster carer recruitment, preparation, assessment and approval through to linking, matching, placing children with their placements.  We would hope there will be other opportunities to help develop the service regarding recruitment of diverse carers offering specialist placements, training and therapeutic assistance for carers and young people, children and young person's groups, participation events etc., as mentioned above.

Supplementary Information
Barnardo's Fostering Team in the South East always look to develop and improve the services provided to foster carers and looked after children seeking a placement.

You will have experience of assessment and inter agency working and be a strong communicator and team worker with knowledge of the issues facing vulnerable children and young people. A sound knowledge of safeguarding  policies and procedures is a must too.

You will need to be able to work to clear timescales and have good communication skills.  You will keep accurate and up to date records on computer systems and write reports with full information and analysis.  All documents pertinent and in accordance with service policy and procedure and current regulations.

As we work with Local Authorities throughout the South East you will be expected to travel anywhere in this region and attend meetings possibly elsewhere in the country.

You will have the opportunity to work in a specialist area of social work in a skilled, motivated and reassuring team whilst receiving quality management and supervision.

You will be expected to attend relevant training which will be provided to aid your performance and development. You will participate in and contribute to team functioning promoting the aims and purpose of the service and to the development of the new areas of work. 

A required car user is essential for this post.

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

We have an exciting opportunity in our Policy and Campaigns team. Do you have what it takes to develop policy research for the UK's largest children's charity that will transform the lives of the most vulnerable children and young people

Barnardo's Policy & Campaigns Team aims to improve the lives of children through influencing public policy and practice. We use evidence based policy research and analysis to campaign and lobby across Government and through the media. We are driven by a relentless determination to effect positive sustained change.

Bringing proven experience of research methods including direct engagement with vulnerable groups, you will play a pivotal role in informing policy initiatives from evidence based research.  You will need an understanding of the Westminster policy context on a range of issues impacting on the most vulnerable children, The ability to communicate your findings to a range of audiences is also important, together with strong report writing and team working skills. 

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.
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Our basis and values

Full details and application documents here

Peninsula and Islands (Devon, Cornwall, Plymouth, Torbay, Channel Islands)

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Children's Services leader to help shape and support our regional strategy. We are looking for an individual who is willing to get fully involved in supporting staff to deliver our current services and growth opportunities alongside playing an intrinsic part within the regional Senior Management Team to deliver an ambitious development programme to enable us to work with even more children and young people over the coming years. We are looking for someone with great interpersonal skills combined with excellent leadership and management capacity, with a passion to improve the lives of our most vulnerable children and young people - is this you?

You will be based and working in our Peninsula locality, where we are a key stakeholder and have a strong history.

At Barnardo's, our purpose is to transform the lives of the UK's most vulnerable children and our vision is to realise Thomas Barnardo's dream of a world where no child is turned away from the help that they need.  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.

Our basis and values
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.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.  Our safer recruitment processes mean that the safety and welfare of the child is paramount at every stage of the process and therefore, we adopt rigorous scrutiny in our pre-employment checking. This post is subject to a range of pre-employment checks including a Criminal Records Enhanced Disclosure for the successful candidate.

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.

Closing date: 23rd August 2019.

Barnardo's Registered Charity Nos 216250 and SC037605.

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

Adoption Social Worker – fixed term post 1 year from September/October 2019

This role, which is home-based, will involve working as part of an established VAA Adoption team covering the South East region which includes Kent, Sussex, Surrey and some work into Hampshire. 

The successful candidate will be involved in the preparation, assessment and support of prospective adopters who will meet the needs of children waiting for adoption placements.  Our children are placed from Local Authorities around the U.K. and therefore some overnight stays and travel around the U.K. may be required.  Ideally you will be a car driver and your home location must be within our region. 

You will need to be an HCPC registered social worker and ideally have some experience in family placement.

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.

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.

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

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.

Barnardo's Scotland Fostering Edinburgh operates from the city of Edinburgh.  We have over 35 years' experience of providing high quality foster placements providing short term to permanency placement for children and young people 0 – 18 years, potentially to 21 years of age. The majority of young people are currently placed on a long term basis but the service also offers a number of placements on an interim and short break. The service currently offers care to around 83 young people living with our foster families and is expected to achieve growth whilst maintaining our reputation for high level of support, careful matching and placement stability.

We are looking for a highly motivated fostering Recruitment Assistant to join our team to help us expand our service. 

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.

We are committed to welcoming people from a diverse background, culture and experience.

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.

Full details and application details here

• Pakistani cricket stars Babar Azam and Imam ul Haq have shown their support for children’s charity Barnardo’s while competing in the World Cup in England.

The batsmen signed two bats for Barnardo’s which will be auctioned off to help raise funds to transform the lives of the UK’s most vulnerable children.

The stars heard about the charity’s work when they met Barnardo’s Chief Executive Javed Khan in London.

The pair proudly displayed Barnardo’s logo on their bats while competing in the vs England One Day International (ODI) Series in May.

In the ODI series against England, Imam scored 151 runs in the third ODI match. This was the highest individual total for a Pakistan batsman against England in a one day international.

Babar is ranked 8th among the ICC Top 100 ODI batsmen. In the ODI series against England he ended up as the joint leading runs-scorer, scoring 277 runs including a century and two half-centuries.

Babar said on Twitter he was “honoured to be supporting Barnardo’s.”

Imam also tweeted: “They do great work supporting vulnerable children from all communities across the UK.”

Barnardo’s Chief Executive Javed Khan said:

"As a huge cricket fan and amateur player, it was a real privilege to meet these young stars, and to tell them about how Barnardo’s supports vulnerable children across the UK.

“Barnardo’s reaches out to children from all communities who need our help.

"Around 25% of the children we support are from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, so we’re delighted that Babar Azam and Imam ul Haq are helping raise awareness of our vital work, especially amongst the British-Pakistani community.”

Source:
https://www.barnardos.org.uk

   Location: Barnardo's Fostering
​Northern Ireland
Contract type: Permanent
Hours: 37
Salary: £28,631 - £37,414
Closing Date: 12 July 2019
Interview Date: 31st July 2019

Want to join a highly experienced team of social workers trained in assessment and therapeutic skills?

Barnardo's Fostering Northern Ireland is seeking two permanent social workers for our expanding Family Placement service.

• We promote placement stability for children in the looked after system and have a strong record in securing permanent placements for children who cannot live with birth families
• We are passionate about providing high quality care for children with complex needs 
• We have a strong reputation for development and retention in respect of foster carers and staff

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You will have knowledge and experience of fostering, adoption or children's residential services and have an understanding of the voluntary sector.

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.

We are committed to welcoming people from a diverse background, culture and experience.

Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance.

Our Fostering Service is based at 230b Belmont Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT4 2AW. The Belfast office serves all 5 Trusts in NI and as we are keen to extend our reach, we can negotiate office space, dependent on the successful applicant's home location.
 
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

Location: UK Wide – Home based or Barnardo's office
Contract type: Permanent
Hours: 36.25
Salary: £45,218 to £58,297
Closing Date: 6 July 2019
Interview Date: 15/07/19

The Head of Service Development and Quality will play a pivotal role in the development of the family placement business across the UK, ensuring high standards of quality assurance. Secure commercially viable contracts in conjunction with the Business Development unit and ensure recognition of Barnardo's as the go to expert in the field of family placement.
 
Location of postholder:  This is UK wide role and hence there is no fixed location for the post holder.  Consideration will be given to candidates being home based, or subject to agreement at a Barnardo's office close to home base.  As the role is a UK wide post, the post holder will be expected to undertake regular travel across the UK, including overnight stays.

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.

At Barnardo's we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment. Our safer recruitment processes mean that the safety and welfare of the child is paramount at every stage of the process and therefore, we adopt rigorous scrutiny in our pre-employment checking. This post is subject to a range of pre-employment checks including a Criminal Records Enhanced Disclosure for the successful candidate.

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

​At Barnardo's, we believe in children. Our purpose is to transform the lives of the UK's most vulnerable children and our vision is to realise Thomas Barnardo's dream of a world where no child is turned away from the help that they need.

In order to achieve our purpose we require Senior Managers who can demonstrate their ability to lead teams of talented and committed staff; who are able to work within the complexity and uncertainty of commissioning and tendering in the voluntary sector and who are able to display business acumen in a social care setting.

The Assistant Director of Children's Services post represents an opportunity for the successful candidate to be a strategic business leader and ambassador for Barnardo's Children's Services within their locality, delivering the vision and purpose of Barnardo's and ensuring that safe, effective and quality services are delivered consistently to children, young people and their families.

Salary: £43,096 - £55,371 per annum
Hours: 36.25 per week
Closing date: 14 June 2019 (midnight)
Interview date: Week commencing 1 July 2019

A waiting list will be held in the event that similar vacancies arise during the next 9 months

Contact details: people.ni@barnardos.org.uk

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

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