Social Worker Fostering Assessor

Job Introduction

A fantastic opportunity has arisen to work within the Family & Friends Team. This team undertakes assessments of Connected Carers to children in care and children at risk of becoming looked after. These assessments can include Viability Assessments, as well as Full Connected Persons Assessments and Special Guardianship Reports.

You will have the opportunity to strengthen your assessment writing skills and improve your knowledge of Fostering Regulations / Fostering National Minimum Standards. 

As an assessing Social Worker, you would hold a full case load of kinship assessments and have the opportunity to supervise and support carers who have been temporarily approved as Foster Carers. You will also be essential in supporting our applicants to attend the Fostering Panel both prepared and within our policy timescales.

We are a county wide team so you will be undertaking visits to families in a range of areas as such home working is promoted.

Main Responsibility

12 month Fixed Term Contract or Secondment

As an assessing Social Worker, you will:

• Undertake Viability Assessments, Full Connected Persons Assessments and Special Guardianship Reports.
• You may also be required to provide supervision and support to temporarily / newly approved foster carers.
• You will prepare your applicants for Foster Panel and support them on the day with their attendance. 

As part of this dynamic service you will be involved in Smarter Working practices in order to continuously strive for best practice, offering positive experiences for applicants whilst providing high quality reports.

You will have access to Fostering Training and will work closely with the Fostering Permanency and SGO Support Team as well as other Fostering Teams across the service.  

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for someone who:

• Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England with 2 year's experience
• Can demonstrate an understanding of the Fostering National Minimum Standards and Fostering Regulations.
• Has excellent report writing and communication skills
• Is highly organised and able to manage a busy workload in order to meet deadlines.
• Is able to work as part of our team and the wider service, whilst having the initiative and confidence to work autonomously when required.
• Experience in a wide range of aspects of the social work role

If you'd like to discuss the role further, please contact Team Manager, Chloe Ottley chloe.ottley@staffordshire.gov.uk or Julia Challinor julia.challinor@staffordshire.gov.uk

For internal secondment you must have Line Manager approval before applying. 

About Staffordshire County Council

So, how do I apply?

Just click on the ‘Apply’ button.

If you do have technical issues please contact talent@staffordshire.gov.uk and the team will help you.

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too. 

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. 

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.