When we think of Olympic athletes, images of peak physical performance, rigorous training, and the pursuit of excellence often come to mind.

Conversely, foster carers are often viewed through the lens of compassion, resilience, and the ability to provide a safe and nurturing environment for children in need. At first glance, these two roles may seem worlds apart. However, after taking on a Non-Executive Directors role I’ve gained a much closer look which reveals a so many similarities in the core characteristics that define both Olympic athletes and foster carers.

Whilst it’s easy to focus on the differences in life, I love looking for the similarities and the aspects in common, so that’s where this blog will be focussed, as we explore the fascinating parallels between these two seemingly disparate roles, shedding light on the dedication, resilience, and unwavering commitment that both demand.

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It’s that time of year where the school summer holidays are creeping up faster than you can say ‘hold my ice-cream’.

For many families it conjures up memories of long sunny days (ok, it’s the UK so maybe less of the sunny), holidays at the beach, amusement arcades and more sweets than you can shake a stick at. 

But that’s not the case for all children. Some coming to Team Fostering will have no or limited experience of the joys of a family holiday.

That’s why - as part of our not-for-profit status - Team Fostering invests money into taking carers and children away on a Team holiday each year. Not only giving children an opportunity to experience new things but giving carers the chance to come together for support too.  

Earlier this year we headed off to Filey with the Yorkshire and East Midlands Team whilst those in the North East region went to Flamingo Land – enjoying four nights of fun with a combination of organised activities and free time. 

Although the weather might have been a bit of a wash out, the experiences certainly weren’t, creating memories to last a lifetime.

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​Based in our Middlesbrough office with a requirement to work flexibly across the North East area

Starting salary is dependent upon skills and experience

There will be a requirement to take part in our call out system as per the needs of the agency. 

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 North East Team. Your office base will be located at our Middlesbrough office and you will cover a caseload across the North East Region.  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 looked after children.

Click here for full job details

Based in our Middlesbrough office with a requirement to work flexibly across the North East area.

Starting salary is dependent upon skills and experience.

There will be a requirement to take part in our call out system as per the needs of the agency. 

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 North East team. Your base will be located at our Middlesbrough office and you will cover a caseload across the North East region.  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 looked after children.
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Click here for full job details

Team Fostering is an ethical, not for profit fostering agency with a strong reputation and proven track record for providing high quality foster homes for care experienced children. Fostering panels have a crucial role to play in the provision and monitoring of foster care for children.  The fostering panel provides independent oversight of the recruitment, assessment and review of foster carers and makes reasoned recommendations on their suitability to foster. 

An opportunity has arisen for panel members to join our central list and to complement our Yorkshire and East Midlands Region fostering panel.  As a panel member, you will contribute to the provision of a first-class fostering service for children through effective participation in fostering panel business. Drawing on any relevant knowledge, experience, and skills you will be required to contribute to panel business efficiently in accordance with the fostering regulations and the policies and procedures of Team Fostering. 

Good listening and communication skills are essential along with the ability to make an assessment based on the written and oral information presented to the panel in order to discuss and make recommendations in a balanced and informed manner.  A reasonable knowledge of fostering and the regulatory framework and the fostering standards is also required, as well as evidence of a strong commitment to achieving positive outcomes for children. 

As a panel member, you will need to be available to attend a panel one day a month.

Your responsibilities will include:

• To read the circulated papers carefully before the meeting and to attend the meeting prepared to raise issues and to contribute to the panel discussion.
• To take responsibility for participating in the making of a recommendation on each case, drawing on both personal and professional knowledge and experience.
• To receive, process and communicate sensitive, complex information, and contribute to evaluation of information presented.
• To safeguard the confidentiality of all panel papers and panel discussions.

Further details and application documents here

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

​Team Fostering is an ethical not for profit fostering agency with a strong reputation and track record for providing high quality, value for money fostering placements for looked after children in the North East, Yorkshire and East Midlands. We pride ourselves on our values and behaviours and we expect our staff to commit to and demonstrate these in their everyday work.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Supervising Social Worker to join our successful and GOOD rated North East Team. Your office base will be located at our North Shields office and you will cover a caseload across the North East Region.  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 looked after children.

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.

Further details and application documents here

The Panel Vice-Chair will receive £184.15 per panel. In the absence of the Panel Chair, the Vice Chair will be expected to deputise and will therefore receive £460.25 per panel. 

Team Fostering is an ethical, not for profit fostering agency with a strong reputation and proven track record for providing high quality foster homes for care experienced children. Fostering panels have a crucial role to play in the provision and monitoring of foster care for children.  The fostering panel provides independent oversight of the recruitment, assessment and review of foster carers and makes reasoned recommendations on their suitability to foster. 

An exciting opportunity has arisen within Team Fostering to appoint an Independent Vice Chair for the North East fostering Panel.

As an Independent Chair you will be responsible for contributing to the provision of a first-class fostering service for children through the effective chairing and participation in fostering Panel meetings.

As a panel member, you will need to be available to attend a panel one day a month.

As Panel Vice Chair your responsibilities will include:

• Chairing Panel meetings, when required, ensuring that all items of business are covered and that the Panel operates in accordance with regulations and the policies and procedures of the agency.
• To prepare for Panel meetings, reading Panel papers carefully, identifying key issues and alerting the Panel Adviser if necessary to ensure, as far as possible, that the assessments are adequate for submission to panel.
• To take responsibility for participating in the making of a recommendation on each case, drawing on both personal and professional knowledge and experience.
• To safeguard the confidentiality of all Panel papers and Panel discussions.

A knowledge of fostering and the regulatory framework and standards surrounding it as well as evidence of a commitment to achieving positive outcomes for children are all essential qualities we are seeking for this post.

As the Vice Chair you will also be required to contribute to the continuous development of the agency through working effectively with the Panel Adviser, the Agency Decision Maker and other Senior Managers.

Further details and application documents here 

​Based at: Sheffield (Unit 3 & 4, Shepcote Village, Sheffield, S9 1TG)

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

The main office base will be Sheffield with a requirement to travel occasionally to our East Midlands and North East office locations.

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

Team Fostering is an ethical (not for profit) independent fostering agency with a strong reputation for providing high quality, value for money foster care for looked after children. We pride ourselves on our values and behaviours and we expect our staff to commit to and demonstrate these in their everyday work.

We are looking for a motivated and enthusiastic Training Co-ordinator to join our successful fostering agency. The post holder will support the Training Manager and contribute to the development, co-ordination and delivery of mandatory and non-mandatory training to Foster families across the Agency, promoting a high standard of care for children and young people.  

The successful candidate will have excellent inter-personal skills and relevant qualifications in administration/information technology.  They will also need to be competent in the operational use of remote platforms TEAMS/ZOOM. 

Experience of working within a diverse adult group is essential, together with an ability to always maintain confidentiality. Experience of working for a fostering service would be desirable. 

The successful candidate must have a full driving licence and access to a car for work. A willingness to travel to other office locations and the ability to work flexibly, including occasional weekends is also essential.

Further details and application documents can be found here 

Full time: 37.5 hours per week (working flexibly between Monday - Sunday)

This role will involve some weekend working. This would typically be 3 hours one weekend a month, a responsibility which will be shared with colleagues on the team on a rota basis. There may be rare occasions where this would mean working more hours on a weekend but this would be planned well in advance. Weekend working would involve taking this time back during the working week to allow flexibility for both the post holder and the agency. 

Salary Banding: £26,368.97 to £29,964.75 per annum depending on experience

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

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

Team Fostering is an ethical not for profit fostering agency with a strong reputation and track record for providing high quality, value for money fostering placements for looked after children. We pride ourselves on our values and we expect our staff to commit to and demonstrate these values in their everyday work.

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
• 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

Further details and application documents here