Senior/Supervising Social Worker - #2174936

Foster Care Associates (The FCA)
Role: Senior/Supervising Social Worker
Basic Salary: Up to £38,616.93 per annum - dependent upon experience
Hours: 35 hours per week
Benefits: Company Car or £2,000 Car Allowance, 30 days’ annual leave, rising to 35 days with length of service, plus bank holidays, Life Assurance, Company Pension, free on-site parking, Employee Discount Scheme and Medical Cash Plan
Covering Area: Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley

This is an amazing opportunity to join Foster Care Associates. We are seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic full-time Senior/Supervising Social Worker to join our inspirational and friendly team to develop and promote the fostering services in the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire area. Due to the nature of the role there is no set office base and therefore your place of work is deemed to be the child’s home, community activity base or from home. There is an expectation that staff travel to the regional office in Sheffield on a quarterly basis and that foster parents and children are visited within their home.

About Us

Set up by a former foster parent and former social worker in 1994, Foster Care Associates (FCA) is an established fostering agency which forms part of the Polaris Community - one of the UK’s largest communities of children’s services providers.

The business was born out of an enthusiasm for delivering fostering services to make a positive difference to the lives of looked-after children. Our first office was in the Worcestershire countryside, and that’s still where our Head Office is today.

We’ve come a long way since those early days and, over the years, FCA has built a strong reputation for excellence, and now offers a wide range of services to children and families. But our purpose remains the same; ‘to make a positive and lasting difference for children, families and communities’, and it’s underpinned by a series of values designed to help us assist children and young people to reach their full potential.

Today, we’re one of the country’s largest and most experienced independent fostering agencies. But just because we’re large doesn’t mean we’re impersonal. At FCA we’re one big family, and we’re committed to supporting every single child and foster parent, every single minute of the day.

Duties Will Include:

• Support foster parents and their families to achieve outstanding outcomes for all children and young people in foster care
• Supervise, support and monitor the continued suitability and competence of foster parents, ensuring they provide a safe, healthy, nurturing and learning environment for children and young people
• Ensure that foster parents fully understand the fostering task, competencies to be achieved and the standards expected, including complaints and representation procedures as detailed in the FCA policies and procedures
• Provide and record regular supervision to allocated foster parents in line with FCA’s Operational Standards
• Work in partnership in a team parenting approach to help identify any needs within the foster family e.g. respite, activities, therapy, holidays, with all members of the child’s network, including contributing to all relevant meetings and any other tasks defined
• Ensure each child and foster parent’s records are fully compliant in respect of all key documentation
• Attend meetings and/or provide reports for Commissioning Teams to address individual packages of care
• Promote participation of children and young people in the development of the agency and in accessing resources and opportunities in their local community
• Participate in an Out of Hours support service on a rota basis
• Undertake occasional initial home visits and Form F assessments

You Must Have:

• A Social Work qualification
• Professional registration with Social Work England
• Proven ability to produce a high standard of report writing
• A comprehensive working knowledge of relevant legislation and child safeguarding procedures
• The willingness and ability to travel extensively across the Yorkshire/Humberside/Lincs area
• Confidence with transporting children and young people in sometimes challenging situations
• Full UK driving licence

We would love to hear from you. To be considered for this opportunity to join our friendly team, please apply and we will be in touch.

No agencies please.

Foster Care Associates is an equal opportunities employer and has Disability Confident Employer status through Jobcentre Plus. The successful applicant will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.