Member Job Opportunity: St Christopher's - Registered Fostering Manager - West Bromwich

Location: West Bromwich
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: 09 January 2022
Salary: £40,400 - £46,460 depending on experience
Specific Hours: 37.5

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Flexible working arrangements (Home working with some requirements to attend office meetings and events)

St Christopher’s is seeking an experienced and dynamic professional to support and develop our fostering services across the West Midlands.

If you have a successful track, of inspiring staff and carers, team leadership and carer engagement leadership,  the knowledge and supporting skills to manage and build a thriving fostering service,  we want to hear from you.

About Us
St Christopher's is an established children’s charity that has provided care for vulnerable children and young people for almost 150 years. We provide fostering, children's homes and a range of innovative housing and support services across London, Bedfordshire, West Midlands and the Isle of Man.

We really care about children and young people, placing them at the centre of everything we do. We ask young people what they think and involve them in decision making, from helping to shape new services to interviewing new members of staff. Our social pedagogic approach is our core philosophy of care. Put simply this is a holistic approach for building positive relationships with young people to bring out their inner “diamond”.

We are an equal opportunity employer and keen to develop an inclusive workforce were people feel they belong.  We hope to attract applications from under- represented groups including people from different cultures, nationalities, socio economic backgrounds, ages, disabilities, religion, faith, sex, orientation, child care responsibilities and with gender diverse identities.

Key aspects of the Role:
This is a unique opportunity for you to build a fostering team that can deliver safe, quality services and achieve excellent outcomes for children. 

• Understanding of the regulatory process and Ofsted Inspection Framework
• Close effective working relationships with our internal therapeutic, participation, education and residential services.
• Developing and building external relationships with local services and professionals
• Direct line management to a small and experienced Fostering Team including Supervising Social Workers, An Administrator and Fostering Support Worker
• Building and supporting a pool of independent consultants including Form F Assessors, Reviewing Officers
• Panel Advisor to an established Fostering Panel
• Achieving the growth targets set by St Christopher’s (you will be backed by St Christopher’s centrally co-ordinated and targeted recruitment campaigns and supported by marketing colleagues).

Applicants should have:

• CQSW, DipSW, BA Social Work or equivalent professional qualification, and registration with Social Work England (SWE)
• A Management qualification at least at level 4, or willingness to achieve the level 5 Diploma in Management
• Safeguarding knowledge and/or practice experience
• At least 2 years’ post-qualification experience of working in fostering or adoption.
• At least 1 years’ experience of supervising professional staff.
• Experience of implementing a range of effective marketing strategies/campaigns aimed at potential foster carers
• Excellent leadership skills.
• Hands-on approach and enthusiasm to embrace challenging but realistic growth targets.

In return we offer:

• Salary £40,400 - £46,460 per annum depending on experience
• Competitive pay and reward structure offering salary progression based on performance.
• Tailored career development plan through our “St Christopher’s Academy”.
• A friendly working environment, a fun, open and honest culture.
• 25 days holiday rising to 27 days after 3 years’ service, plus Bank Holidays, pro-rata.
• Industry Leading training programme including Management and Development programmes. children’s right and participation, CSE, empowerment, mental health and Social Pedagogy.
• Contributory pension scheme, Enhanced Maternity and Company Sick Scheme.
• BUPA Employee Assistance Programme, offering counselling, financial advice and legal support.
• Interest-free season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme.
• Discount shopping scheme at hundreds of retailers across the UK.
• Discretionary Funded Training Programs.
• Employee Awards based on performance and length of service.

Recruitment Process
At St Christopher’s we are committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people in our care. During the recruitment process you will be expected to complete an online application form to ensure we capture essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements.

Applicants will ideally already be on the DBS Update Service; if this is not the case St Christopher's will carry out a DBS (police) check prior to starting.

Your online application must include a supporting statement addressing the criteria stated in the Person Specification.

For the full Person Specification click here

For more information or assistance during the application process, please contact [email protected]

We advise to apply as soon as possible as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and this opportunity might be filled before the stated closing date.

Full details and application documents here