Senior Admin Officer

Senior Admin Officer
Southwark
20/hr
Start date: ASAP
General:
To develop and provide a flexible and high quality in house Fostering Placements Service with the purpose of: improving placement choice, availability and stability for children in care; improving the experience of social workers, foster carers and children in identifying suitable placements; delivering the best possible value to the Council in terms of cost and quality of placements.
To provide bespoke packages of practical support to foster carers, young people and families in the community to maximise placement viability and stability, prevent placement breakdown and retain foster carers. Also to identify matches between children and suitable foster carers who can meet their emotional, educational, cultural and health needs, and who can provide stability and a sense of belonging.
To work collaboratively to provide a service which is both relationship-based and which responds in a timely manner within required timeframes.
As a Fostering Placements Officer you will work alongside Social Workers supporting with referrals and talking to our in house Foster Carers to see how we can best support them to be matched with our Children and Young People whilst complying with National standards, Fostering Regulations and procedures.
Job role:
1. Responsible for coordinating, responding to, and managing in house Foster Carer requests from Social Workers and for liaison with our Access to Resources Team
2. Respond positively and professionally to referrals by Social Workers, ensuring the quality of information enables the identification of in house Foster Carers that meet our Children/ Young People's assessed needs.
3. Working with Supervising Social Workers to ensure our in - house Foster Carers are available and prepared to take Children and Young People
4. Working to support Fostering and ART to identify and facilitate placements with our in - house Foster Carers
5. Liaising with ART and Supervising Social Workers to maximise placements of children and Young People with our in - house Foster Carers
6. Working closely with Team Managers, Supervising Social Workers and Foster Carers to unpick issues affecting the numbers of Children and Young People they can care for
7. Working with Supervising Social Workers, Social Workers and the Clinical Service to develop appropriate care and support packages for Children, Young People and Foster Carers.
8. Keeping detailed records of discussions, whilst tracking, monitoring and updating our internal Foster Carer records and capacity
9. Developing relationships with Foster Carers, Supervising Social Workers, Social Workers and other internal stakeholders
10. Attend and contribute to meetings relating to child/young person's placement where required such as placement support meetings
Children's Social Care which forms part of Children and Adults Services and provides a diverse range of specialist services for children. The work requires regular contact with social care professionals, foster carers, managers and external providers.
All accountabilities of the post will be undertaken in accordance with the principals of IIP, the performance management framework of Southwark Council and its commitment to equalities and diversity.
Structure
The post is located within the Permanence Service. The post-holder reports to the Service Manager, Fostering and will be required to build functional relationships with colleagues in the Assessment, Safeguarding, Care and Access to Resources teams.