​One thing which is predictable about adult life is that there are many obstacles and challenges around the corner, and you never quite know what is coming next.  As you get older, you build resilience, step out your comfort zone to meet new challenges, and work with those around you to make the best of things.  The question is, how do you prepare young people for this?  The answer – our Team Adventure River Trip, involving a mindful meander down the River Derwent in Matlock, Derbyshire.

To help facilitate this, we joined forces with Rapid Horizons, who provided all of the equipment, as well as Gary and Charlie to help guide our ten enthusiastic young people down the river.  Many of our children will have tried kayaking or canoeing before as part of Team Fostering’s action packed activity programme, but this was completely different.  The River Derwent is a grade 2 river, meaning there are sections of moving water and rapids as well as rocks and other obstacles to navigate.  This was not a straight forward challenge for our young people, and they had to show determination and resilience to complete the 6km journey through the Matlock gorge.

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We offer a blend of home and office-based working arrangements, to support a healthy work-life balance for all our staff. This will be a minimum of one day per week working based either at our North Tyneside or Middlesbrough office.

Hours: 18.75 hours per week covering Monday to Sunday

Please note we do not operate a performance related reward system or automatic incremental payments

As a Recruitment, Retention and Development Social Worker for Team Fostering you will play a vital role in supporting us to make those changes happen. 

Key responsibilities include:

• Working in partnership with the relevant managers to develop, facilitate and review training of prospective foster carers for the Northeast Region.
• Support, development, implementation and delivery of specialised recruitment campaigns.
• Acting as key point of contact for applicants in the process of assessment to become foster carers.
• Offering support, guidance and advice to independent social workers.
• Quality Assurance of Initial Visits and Form F Assessments.
• Identifying, addressing and resolving retention concerns to support the delivery of the Carer Recruitment and Retention Strategy.
• Maintaining oversight of changing trends in foster care recruitment and liaise with the Director of Business Operations to develop strategies that meet need and reflect changing landscape.

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Barnardo's is seeking a committed and skilled Supervising Social Worker to join our Midlands Fostering Families service. This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a supportive and passionate team dedicated to providing high‑quality support to foster carers and achieving the best outcomes for children.

As a Supervising Social Worker, you will support, supervise, and develop a caseload of foster carers, ensuring safe, child‑centred, and high‑quality fostering practice.

Your caseload will be predominantly based in the East Midlands, and you will work closely with foster families, children, colleagues, and partner agencies.

This is a hybrid role and you will spend regular time in the Halesowen office to attend team meetings, support service delivery, and engage in collaborative practice.

Your role will include the following: 

• Provide supervision, support, and guidance to foster carers in line with regulatory and Barnardo's standards.
• Undertake visits, assessments, and reviews to ensure safe, effective, and child‑led foster homes.
• Work directly with children and young people to understand their lived experiences and support positive outcomes.
• Contribute to the recruitment, training, and development of foster carers.
• Work in partnership with local authorities, health, education, and other agencies.
• Ensure robust safeguarding practice and respond effectively to any concerns.
• Maintain accurate and timely records and contribute to audits, quality assurance, and service planning.

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When you’re a foster carer, finding the right agency to share the journey alongside you is everything. At Team Fostering you join a community of foster carers and a family which is there for you every step of the way – with incredible support and a not-for profit ethos which puts children at the heart of everything they do.

But not everybody’s fostering journey starts out like that. Foster carers transfer to us who haven’t had the support or breadth of service from other agencies – and when the challenges of fostering raise their head, that’s the most important thing.

The start of the fostering journey
Denise and Rachel began fostering five years ago. After adopting a little boy, and considering adopting again, a series of circumstances led them to fostering. They decided they would like to provide a safe, loving home to even more children in need.

Denise explained: “Things started off alright at our previous agency and then they started to go downhill.

During a particularly challenging part of their journey, Denise and Rachel weren’t able to access the support they needed and that’s when they decided change was needed to enable them to continue fostering.

Denise said: “We had some friends who were with Team Fostering so we had a long chat with them. That’s when we made the decision to transfer.”

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​Ruth is one of our Supervising Social Workers in the North East Region. For Social Work Week we caught up with her to hear all about her role and the relationships she has with her Foster Carers.

How did you get into social work?

I’ve been qualified as a social worker for 24 years. I always knew I wanted to do a job helping and empowering people. My first role was in a Looked After Children’s team in Lincolnshire. It was from that role at an early age that I knew my passion was fostering.

I’ve worked in a lot of different roles and I’ve been so lucky to have so many experiences. I can see things from the perspective of a child first coming into foster care to experiences children have in foster care, but also moving on from foster care. I still keep in touch with a lot of my looked after children who are now 25/26.

I’ve now been at Team Fostering for 3 years.

What do you love about your role?

Working with Foster Carers is my strength. My passion now is supporting children that are neurodiverse.  A lot of children are getting assessed for ADHD, foetal alcohol syndrome, autism and supporting Foster Carers with this is really important. The way I do it is just being there on the journey with them. Supporting them, helping them, making sure that they get the training that’s going to help them.

It’s still a job for me that I enjoy getting up in the morning and I enjoy doing. So that speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

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We offer hybrid working which includes a blend of home and office working with a minimum of one day per week in our office.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Supervising Social Worker to join our successful and GOOD rated Yorkshire and East Midlands Team. Your office base will be in Sheffield, and you will manage a caseload primarily across the West Yorkshire region. However, there will also be a requirement to support duty and other work across Yorkshire and the East Midlands.  You will share our commitment to delivering high quality services for children and young people and support our foster carers to do this too.

As a Supervising Social Worker you will provide a high level of supervision and support to foster carers, as well as the children and young people who are placed in their care. You will have the knowledge and skills to undertake the full range of Supervising Social Worker tasks, including supervising foster carers, working with other professionals, report writing and attendance at meetings. Not only will you have excellent communication and interpersonal skills you will also be hardworking, positive, and motivated to improve outcomes for Children in Care.

Whilst experience in fostering is beneficial, we welcome applications from newly qualified Social Workers and Social Workers with the relevant skills, commitment and enthusiasm who are seeking to move into fostering. You will benefit from a robust training and induction package to support your development within our team.
 
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We offer hybrid working which includes a blend of home and office working with a minimum of one day per week in our office.
 
Hours: 37.5 hours per week working flexibly between Monday – Sunday (Flexible working requests will be considered)
 
This role will involve some evening and weekend working. This would typically be between 5-8pm on an evening twice a week, and 3 hours on a weekend once a month. There may be occasions where it would be more hours on a weekend but this would be planned well in advance. Evening work and weekend work would mean this time would be taken back during the working week to allow flexibility for both the post holder and the agency.

As part of our continued growth as an agency and the on-going development of our services, we are expanding our Recruitment Team and would welcome applications from skilled professionals to support the agency in recruiting skilled and suitable foster carers by dealing with initial enquiries, liaising with potential foster carers, attending community based recruitment events, working closely with marketing colleagues, and engaging with current foster carers.

The successful applicant will have:

• Experience of a public facing engagement, recruitment or sales and marketing role
• Exceptional customer service and relationship management skills
• A confident and professional telephone manner
• Proven ability to communicate with a wide range of people and differing communities
• Excellent verbal communication skills and telephone manner
• Proven ability to write clear, concise reports and maintain written records
• Experience in the use of MS Office and database systems
• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to prioritise workload and work to tight deadlines
• A can do attitude and a willingness to learn
• Flexibility to work evenings and weekends when required

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We are now recruiting for Foster Carer Support Buddies to work with our Foster Carers and their families. This is a great opportunity for those studying within a social work or health related field who want to gain experience around their studies, or for those who have availability in the evenings/weekend or during the day to undertake the role duties.

The role is offered on self-employed or zero hours contract.

What are we looking for
This role will support our foster carers and children in a wide range of activities, which could include childminding, transporting children to school and activities, attending meetings, and taking young people for days out and other activities, in order to both work with and free up some time in a carer’s day. The post-holder may spend time with the young person on a regular or an occasional basis.

The role will involve
Supporting children with additional needs within their home
Assisting with meal times and personal care.
Supporting children to access activities
Accompanying them with their foster carer on days out
Post holders may be asked to sit with children in hospital during the day whilst carers attend meetings/ appointments
Supporting with care for children at the CFT office whilst carers attend training.

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As part of planned succession and our continued focus on strong, independent governance, we are seeking to appoint two Members to act as constitutional guardians of the organisation.

This is not a management or operational role.

Members provide strategic constitutional oversight — safeguarding the integrity, sustainability and long-term direction of the organisation. They step in where necessary to protect governance standards, uphold our Articles of Association and ensure accountability at the highest level.

It is an important but infrequent role, suited to individuals who value independence, integrity and principled leadership.

We would particularly welcome interest from individuals with experience in:

• Governance, regulation or constitutional oversight
• Children’s services, fostering and safeguarding
• Finance, audit, legal or risk environments
• Senior leadership in the public, voluntary or not-for-profit sectors
• Parliamentary engagement or understanding of government decision-making
• We are looking for people who bring sound judgement, independence of thought, and the confidence to act appropriately if serious governance concerns arise.

Commitment

• Approximately two formal meetings per year
• Preparation and review of governance documentation
• Availability if a significant governance issue arises

This is a remunerated role.

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