Children’s Social Worker – Shropshire – Fostering (Kinship) – £30.57

Children’s Social Worker
Location : Shropshire Council
Team : Fostering (Kinship to Permanence Fostering Team)
Rate £30.57
*Shropshire/Hybrid – Face to Face visits to carers but virtual permitted too*
Office Use : RQ1516766

A clear focus to provide support and permanence for the looked after children of Shropshire. The team’s aims are to identity, assess and support potential kinship foster carers through their journey of becoming approved foster carers, to obtaining Special Guardianship Orders where appropriate.

The successful candidate will primarily assess and carry a caseload of kinship foster carers with the long-term aim of supporting them to secure permanence through Special Guardianship.

The successful candidate will support and supervise carers as they move towards obtaining a Special Guardianship Order, providing permanence for Shropshire’s looked after children and young people.

We are looking for qualified social workers who have enthusiasm, positivity, flexibility, the ability to work to tight times scales and have a commitment to contributing to the development of the team and our foster carers.

The suitable candidate will work towards supporting our carers to ensure a positive, safe and nurturing experiences for children and young people while supporting the connected families towards permanence.

• To contribute to the on-going, assessment, development and training of kinship foster carers to care for young people who are accommodated by the local authority, and to promote the necessary support needed to enable the kinship foster families to achieve permanence through SGO.

• To provide direct supervision and support to approved kinship foster carers in line with fostering legislation, attending, and supporting them in meetings such as CLA reviews, transition meetings, care planning meetings, PEP meetings and any other relevant fostering or CLA meetings related to the child.

• To undertake kinship fostering assessments (Form C/K), viability assessments when required, special guardianship assessments, and on occasion other assessments within appropriate time scales

• To be reflective, restorative and practice with a therapeutic trauma informed approach.

• Plan and prioritise own workload, ensuring urgent deadlines are met.

• Participating in regular supervision or consultation with the team manager ensuring that they are always made aware of significant issues in respect of kinship foster carers, children and families.

• Produce high quality assessments and reports including court statements, court reports, and assessments.

• Support when individuals, carers and families are not in agreement with social work interventions.

• Demonstrate a high level of expertise.

• Personal accountability for delivering services efficiently, effectively and within budget. To implement any approved savings and investment allocated to the service.

• To be available out of normal office hours to develop carer forums for the purpose of training and of support or recruitment if required.

• To be able to undertake visits and assessments out of county when required, which may on occasions require overnight stays.

Please get in touch if you are interested in this role!