 Job Location: Gloucester Pay scale: £30,643.63 to £41,846.62 dependent on experience, plus additional payment for out of hours on call Hours: Full Time - 37.5 hours per week Closing date: 14th June 2024 Interview date: 18th June 2024 We are looking for, either a Senior Supervising Social Worker or a Supervising Social Worker, dependent on experience, to work alongside the Registered Manager and Marketing team to take a lead on recruiting foster families.
A (Senior) Supervising Social Worker at Community Foster Care will be driven to promote the Child or Young Person’s Ambitions or Dreams. They will do this by recruiting, enabling and enhancing foster families to provide safe, stable, loving, nurturing family homes. Children and Young People seeking to live within these families will have often experienced significant trauma and abuse. Enabling Children and Young people to thrive in our foster families will therefore require a number of special ingredients, which you will need to develop and nurture. This post will focus on the effective recruitment of foster families, working closely with the Registered Manager and Marketing team. Closing date: 14th June 2024 Interview date: 18th June 2024 We ask that anyone who wants to apply for this role, first discuss this informally with the Registered Manager - Emma Weaver [email protected] or call 01452 849301. Further details and application documents here  Job Location: Flexible Pay scale: Voluntary - Expenses only Hours: Six meetings per year (3 Board / 3 subgroup) We’re looking to attract talented inspired people to join our crew and help us to achieve our vital mission by becoming a trustee and joining our board. As a trustee, you will work collaboratively with the other members of the board to navigate CFC’s journey towards achieving the mission.
Please find full role description below and email your application form to [email protected] in the first instance. The application form can be downloaded here. Job Opportunity with FFP Member, Community Foster Care: Family Finding & Compliance Officer20/11/2023
 Location: Gloucester office Salary: £25,878-£29,688 per annum Hours: 37.5 hours per week Closing date: 04/12/2023 We are currently seeking a Family Finding & Compliance Officer to seek families for children referred, supporting a successful effective transition.
Alongside this, they will monitor on behalf of CFC to ensure that we are compliant in terms of fostering regulations, GDPR and Health & Safety to assure a safe service and positive outcomes for the child. Please click here for full job description and application form and email your completed form to [email protected] CVs will not be accepted under any circumstances; all applicants must complete an application form. Full details and application documents here  Job Location: Flexible Pay scale: Voluntary - Expenses only Hours: Six meetings per year (3 Board / 3 subgroup) We’re looking to attract talented inspired people to join our crew and help us to achieve our vital mission by becoming a trustee and joining our board. As a trustee, you will work collaboratively with the other members of the board to navigate CFC’s journey towards achieving the mission.
Please find full role description below and email your application form to [email protected] in the first instance. Our Vision A world where all children and young people grow up in families rich in the essential ingredients required for them to realise their ambitions and dreams. Our Mission To create a community that gives individuals the strength and foundation to realise a better future for young people and families. Our Purpose Every young person has the right to a bright future. Role Summary Community Foster Care’s (CFC) trustees are essential in ensuring that we can continue to strive towards our mission. As a trustee you will ensure that CFC remains on course with delivering its key activities. At CFC we are committed to creating a culture driven by our values and based on diversity, exploration, critical reflection, courage to challenge and belief in the power of people. Trustees have the overall legal responsibility for a charity. The law describes charity trustees as ‘the persons having the general control and management of the administration of a charity’ (Charities Act 2011, section 177). Charity trustees are those responsible under the charity's governing document for controlling the administration and management of the charity. This is the case regardless of the terminology used to describe the role. For CFC, the charity trustees are the board of trustees. The Role of the Board At its simplest, the role of the board of trustees is to ensure all of CFC’s assets are safeguarded and applied to the charitable purposes of CFC. The board of trustees must always act in the best interests of CFC, exercising the same standard of duty of care that a prudent person would apply if looking after the affairs of someone for whom they have responsibility. The trustee board must act as a group and not as individuals. Key requirements of which you should be aware Trustees are expected to attend an induction session with CFC prior to their first board meeting. Trustees are expected to attend all board meetings. Board meetings are held three times a year, usually in the late afternoon – early evening. The meetings tend to be held at our Kingsholm Office in Gloucester, but participants can attend via remote video call. From time to time there are additional meetings and planning sessions.
Main Duties and Responsibilities The duties of a trustee board member are to:
In addition to the above statutory duties, each trustee should use any specific skills, knowledge or experience they have, to help the board of trustees reach sound decisions. This may involve leading discussions, identifying key issues, providing advice and guidance on new initiatives, and evaluating or offering advice on other areas in which the trustee has particular expertise. What we require from all our employees and volunteers:
Community Foster Care is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children; applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service clearance at enhanced level. CVs will not be accepted in any circumstances; all applicants must complete an application form. Person Specification Each trustee must have:
 It was August 2021 when I received an email from Community Family Care manager, Sasha, entitled ‘The Amazing Casey’. It was my first introduction to the, then, 18 year old who would go on to bravely share her story on film with myself and her Support Worker, Gemma. Now, Casey would never identify with words like ‘amazing’ or ‘brave’ - in her eyes, it is simply her life story, but it has become clearer to me over the years, that Casey cannot yet see herself as all those who meet her and hear her words do. Writing in 2023, Casey is now 19 - due to turn 20 this summer - the level of self-awareness, how much processing of her trauma she has already done and the kindness she shows towards other children and young people in care, is honestly astounding. Inner work that many adults either come to much later in life or never at all, Casey has already been doing for years. One day, I hope, Casey will be able to recognise these huge achievements for what they are - the confidence for an 18 year old to meet a stranger for coffee and lay her whole, harrowing, life story on the table on our first meeting, the strength it takes to recount traumatic events over and over, the diplomacy and grace she affords those responsible for what happened to her - it blows my mind but enough about my experience of The Amazing Casey, read on and watch Casey’s film above (and keep an eye out on the BBC…) Author: Hannah Reynolds, Marketing & Recruitment Officer Fostering stories from the perspective of looked after children are few and far between, largely because of safeguarding but also due to the stigma many children in care feel at being fostered in the first place. Children in foster care are protected by extremely stringent safeguarding practices, for a multitude of reasons, and so sharing their stories is virtually impossible. Of course, this is for (many) very good reasons - namely, safeguarding these vulnerable children and young people, which comes above all else. However, every now and then an adult emerges out of the care system with a need to share their experience. Often, this comes years, if not decades, later on in life. Perhaps because this allows the time often needed to process trauma, to feel a distance from any stigma or discrimination they faced or simply with the experience of aging and ‘coming into oneself’. We at Community Foster Care feel truly honoured to have been entrusted with sharing the story of one of our young people who lived in placement with CFC foster carers from the age of 13-18. Let us introduce, Casey.  Casey had her first interactions with Social Services very early in life. She found herself in and out of different foster homes before entering foster care permanently at the age of just four years old. With difficult circumstances in her birth family, followed by this frequent relocation, Casey’s childhood had extremely disruptive and traumatic beginnings. When her local authority placed her with a single foster parent under a Special Guardianship, she believed she had found her forever home. For a time, she felt safe and somewhat settled, although, on reflection Casey identifies that her upbringing there was very strict and not what a ‘normal’ childhood should look like. Having only ever known turbulence and change, Casey thought her life was ‘normal’ and didn’t question any of the rules she had to abide by. When Casey’s foster carer met a new man, they both welcomed him in to the home. Casey describes those early days as a ‘honeymoon' period’ but sadly, this was all to change. What followed was years of horrendous abuse, which she shares in her film.  At the age of 13, Casey escaped the hands of her abuser and, on arriving at school, reported to teachers what had been going on at home. From that moment, Casey had taken the first of many brave leaps to protect herself and survive. Police, hospital, social services and more were to suddenly become a huge part of Casey’s young life. Casey re-entered the care system and after a few more fostering placements, she finally came to settle with her Community Foster Care carers, where she would stay for the next five years until she turned 18, when she chose to move on to independence. In that five years, Casey jumped into life with Community Foster Care, taking every opportunity that came her way, from residential trips and activities to getting involved with foster carer training. As a young adult, Casey has become a keen advocate for looked after children. Her motivation to share her story comes from a place of wanting to offer hope and support to others who may have or be experiencing similar to what she went through. Having been the child whose possessions have been in a bin bag, she was keen to create welcome boxes for foster children coming into placement with CFC. Now, she is keen to explore everything media has to offer in order to raise awareness of the reality of children in foster care. So when the call that a BBC commissioned film looking at teenagers leaving care came in, we knew exactly who would jump at the opportunity! (More on this to follow…)  We are so proud of Casey and so grateful that she actively chooses to be so involved with us - a fostering agency - when she would be fully within her rights to leave ‘the system’ as far behind her as she could. But that’s not Casey, she is a woman on a mission to make positive change and we will continue to do all we can to support her in that journey and to push for better for all children and young people in foster care.
If you believe you could offer a safe, loving and understanding home for children and young people like Casey, please do get in touch. Source: www.communityfostercare.co.uk/news  Location: Gloucester Pay scale: £25,387 - £29,105 per annum Responsible to: Business Development Manager Contract Length: 12 months Hours per Week: 22.5 - 37.5 depending on candidate Closing date: 24th April 2023 What we believe
Our Vision A world where all children and young people grow up in families rich in the essential ingredients required for them to realise their ambitions and dreams. Our Mission To create environments, enrich families and harness communities that enable Children and Young People to overcome adversity and abuse, by creating an enduring sense of belonging. By doing this and by working together, we will have the courage to overcome barriers, through tenacity and creativity we will release their potential. Key drivers of considerations As a Team Leader, you will at all times:
Key requirements of which you should be aware You may occasionally be required to work outside of office hours to:
You may be required to carry out other appropriate duties not outlined in the Team Leader Job Description, where required. Main Duties and Responsibilities Organisation Wide
- Collate information on referrals - Use the organisation’s shortlisting criteria to filter referrals - Send referrals that meet shortlisting criteria to relevant Supervising Social Workers - Make appropriate recordings on database - Ensure correct paperwork is collected e.g. IPAs - Collate and format foster carer profile formats - Co-ordinate effective referral responses, through the finalising of expressions of interest. - Follow up outcome with foster carers. - Work with Senior Leadership Team to develop this process and ensure the organisation is best placed to make quality expressions of interest. - To ensure a process is in place so that this process is always active.
What we require from all our employees
It is the nature of the work of Community Foster Care, that tasks and responsibilities are unpredictable and varied. All staff are therefore expected to work in a flexible way when the occasion arises where tasks are not specifically covered in the Job Description and have to be undertaken. Community Foster Care is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children; applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service clearance at enhanced level. CVs will not be accepted in any circumstances; all applicants must complete an application form. Person Specification Team Leader Note to Applicant: When completing your application form you should demonstrate the extent to which you have the necessary education, experience, knowledge and skills identified for the post. The shortlisting process will be completed in line with these key factors:
Qualifications
- Essential, shortlisted criteria, evidenced by the application form Experience
Skills and Knowledge
Abilities and Aptitude
- Internet Browsers - Charms (desirable) - Online survey tools (desirable) - Secure email systems (desirable) - Telecommunication devices Miscellaneous Full current driving licence - Desirable, shortlisted criteria, evidenced by the application form Full details and application documents here  Location: Lancaster Pay scale: £30,846 - £39,483 dependent on experience + c.£2.5k Out of Hours per annum. Hours: Full Time - 37.5 hours per week Closing date: 14th April 2023 Car user essential
You: We are looking for an energetic, creative and courageous qualified Social Worker, who can demonstrate a tenacity and enthusiasm in making a positive difference to the lives of children who we look after. We are looking for a passionate person to support our foster carers in the North West of England to provide loving stable homes to children and young people who have experienced trauma. We are a small team and positive relationships are valued. Therefore, it is essential that the post holder is able to work effectively with others with a flexible and adaptable approach – always demonstrating their commitment to working to the highest possible standards whilst remaining at all times child centred. Community Foster Care: Community Foster Care is a small Children’s Charity operating as a Therapeutic Independent Fostering Agency, as well as providing other Children’s Services. All of our practice is trauma informed and critical reflection is entrenched in all areas of the work. All our staff must actively engage in our therapeutic reflective discussions, which require a willingness to think about themselves, their values, work relationships and personal impact on and of the work. We are passionately committed to our values and to enabling children and young people to thrive, be ambitious and to dream. Working for Community Foster Care means you are too. The post holder will be based in our Lancaster office, however, they will be required to support carers across the north west and work closely with our colleagues in Cumbria. A driving licence and access to a car is essential. You will also be required to participate in an Out of Hours Duty rota. Applicants must demonstrate:
The role will require the post holder to be involved in the recruitment, assessment, training and support of foster carers. You will be required to support the children we look after to ensure that they are provided with the highest possible standard of care and the best opportunities to achieve all their ambitions. The safeguarding of children is paramount, this post will require the successful applicants to undertake an enhanced DBS check. What you get by working for Community Foster Care
- Family Support Workers.
An informal discussion about the role with registered manager, Emma Weaver is required before making an application. Emma can be contacted on 01524 489388 or [email protected] Following this discussion completed application forms should be sent via email to [email protected] by the 14th April 2023 Job share is an option Full details and application documents here  Last week was half term in Lancashire and in the BRAND NEW CFC office (any chance to brag about this), we hosted some of our children and young people to learn all things life skills! There was pizza making, arts and crafts, volunteering in a care home for the elderly, shopping and budgeting and lots of laughter along the way! Our Supervising Social Worker, Sam, joined in the activities and said: The young people were great. They were engaged and worked really well together as a group. Seeing them doing arts and crafts with the people at the care home was incredible, they made heart shaped decorations for each of them, finding out what they liked and the residents were so pleased! There were smiles all round that day, I was so, so proud of each one of them. They are incredible young people and are positive contributing members of the community. They really picked up on how important this was and that it's linked to us being called 'Community' Foster Care, and this is why it was part of our activities. They represented our agency so well and should be incredibly proud of themselves!
Our Support Worker, Rachel, who organised the activities said: Most of us take for granted learning life skills and if, by the time we leave home, we don’t have that many we usually have family members or friends to call on for help. Children and young people in foster care might not have these support systems when they age out of care and if they find themselves moved from home to home, their learning is interrupted and may not be consistent, depending on who’s looking after them. That’s why it’s so important to host these life skills events, not only to give them the insight of what adult life is like but to give them the confidence to take on these tasks. It was a brilliant couple of days delivering the Life Skills course to a group of young people in our new Lancaster office. It was lovely to see them interact, have fun with each other and engage in all the activities and challenges. We covered budgeting, responsibilities and much more! On day 2 we had an interactive Q&A session from a care leaver who has gone on to be a successful businessman, this was aspiring for our young people. Seeing them in the Care home “giving something back to the community” was lovely to see. The residents enjoyed the Valentine’s themed activity and biscuits, whilst one of our talented young people played his keyboard for them. We had some great feedback from the young people too, they particularly enjoyed the food planning, shopping, prepping, and eating task!  A mind map of all things ‘Independent Living’ as written by CFC young people  Job Location: Gloucester Contract Length: 12 Months with possibility to go permanent Pay scale: £19,300 to £22,500 Hours: Full-time - 37.5 hours per week Closing date: 16th Jan 2023 Main Duties and Responsibilities
 Job Location: Worle (with the expectation to travel throughout North Somerset) Salary: £12-14 per hour Hours: Sessional What would you need to do?
As a Family Group Conference (FGC) Co-ordinator at Community Family Care you will be driven to promote the child or young person’s voice and enable them to thrive through delivering high quality family group conferences. You will do this by using best practice to bring family members and friends together to look at how they can collectively provide safe, supportive, and sustainable solutions to the problems being experienced in caring for children within the family. What we need from you?
Please see full job description and email your CV to [email protected] in the first instance. An application form can also be downloaded frpm the link below. Closing date: this is a rolling recruitment and will close when the right person is appointed. Full details and application documents here |
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