Member Job Opportunity: Action for Children - Fostering Social Worker

Salary: circa 35,000
Location: Exeter, Devon (Hybrid Role)
Contract Type: Permanent Full Time
Closing Date: 24 October 2022

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Salary: Circa £35,000 per annum plus on call allowance circa £700 per annum.

Contract/Hours: Permanent, Full-Time- 37 hours per week (we would consider 30 hours - simply let us know in your application.)

Closing Date: Midnight on Monday 24th of October 2022 - If we receive a high number of applications, we may have to close earlier than advertised. 

Benefits: Annual leave of 29 days (pro rata), plus public holidays, flexible maternity, adoption and paternity packages, annual staff awards, up to 7% employer contribution pension scheme, employee discount portal with all your favourite brands, check out more on our career's portal. 

We're thrilled that you're considering a career with Action for Children so here's what you need to know…. 

Vulnerable children in the UK need your help
Wherever you work in the Action for Children family, you'll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

Last year, we helped more than 670,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive.

Why Action for Children?
Working here is more than a job. Everyone in the Action for Children family is passionate about protecting and supporting children. It's the sense of purpose that drives us every single day. Because we know that, when we work together, we can make a huge difference to bring lasting improvements to vulnerable children's lives.

Action for Children does what's right, does what's needed and does what works for children in the UK. Every year, our team changes the lives of thousands of children.

A bit about the role
Action for Children Fostering Southwest Peninsula and Family Breaks Devon seeks to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children and young people in society by the provision of safe, secure, and successful foster homes including of short breaks for children with additional needs.

We also offer the highest standard of care-providing foster families 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 carers 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.  

How you'll help to create brighter futures

• 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 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.

Let's talk about you
Our job description for the Fostering Social Worker outlines the requirements of the role but the ‘must-haves' are: 

• A Social Work qualification.
• Registration with Social Work
• 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 Travel across the Peninsula area is essential.

 Working here is so much more than a job. Whether this is a career change for you or the next step in your journey, we'd love to hear from you. 

Good to know
Application Process

There are five sections to complete: Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration.

Talent Pool
We know talent when we see it. But sometimes we find the right person but not for the right job. We'd love to keep your details for when the right job comes up. Let us know if you'd rather we didn't.

Contact: Erika Brinkman on 01923 361723 or [email protected] if you require any further information.

Diversity, equality, and inclusion
At Action for Children, we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic and disabled candidates as they are under-represented within Action for Children. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups in society and for Action for Children.

Male staff are under-represented within our Children Service roles. We would like to encourage more male applicants for our Children Service roles.

Don't meet every single requirement?
Studies show that women and Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic people are less likely to apply for a job unless they meet every qualification. So, if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with the job description, we'd love you to apply anyway. You might just be the perfect person for this role, or another role within the Action for Children family.

Full details and application documents here