Specialist Resilience Foster Carer

Job Introduction

Specialist Resilience Fostering can offer you a rewarding career where you can continue to develop professionally whilst making a difference to a child’s life.

Salary: Between - £37,495-£40,527 per annum depending on the age of the child you are matched with.

We currently have 11 children living in residential care who are awaiting a home, all of whom can live within a fostering household.

Main Responsibilities

Specialist Resilience Foster Carers offer long term homes to children who currently live in a residential setting or are at risk of entering a residential setting. As a specialist you would focus on moving children as young as 7 years old from residential care into intensively supported foster homes.

Underpinned by Resilience Theory our aim is to provide the opportunity to build the resilience of a young person by offering them a secure base where they can build secure attachments and begin to thrive.

The Ideal Candidate

Who can be a Specialist Resilience Foster Carer?

• You will need experience of working with vulnerable children. Preferably with a background within one of the following sectors- Health and Social Care, Teaching, Police, Probation, or Youth Work.
• Have no children under the age of 16 living in the household.
• At least one carer needs to be available full-time for the young person.
• Solo applicants are welcomed.

Benefits of being a Specialist Resilience Foster Carers

• You will have the opportunity to continue to professionally develop in your career with our specialist tailored training package.
• You’ll have your own Fostering Social Worker who will be there to supervise, support and advise you.
• You will have an experienced Foster Carer who will act as your mentor and can support you out of hours.
• A specialist Residential to Fostering senior support worker to support you and your young person pre and post transition,
• A dedicated Resilience Fostering Support Group who meet monthly.
• Built in, regular, planned short breaks with a matched specialist carer.
• You will be part of a multi-disciplinary team around the young person and will be committed to attending regular monthly resilience professional’s meetings to ensure placement support is proactive.
• You will have a Psychological Assessment to support with the matching process.
• You will have carefully planned introductions.
• Your payment begins at point of approval and covers the matching and introduction period. This fee is retained to ensure you are financially protected should a placement need to end, eg) a young person is able to return home.
• out of hours support 365 days a year from our Emergency Duty Service
• Free membership to the Fostering Network which provides independent advice, legal insurance, tax benefit and NI advice, financial advice and discounts.
• Paid Mileage

Should you wish to have more information about these children and are interested in becoming a Specialist Resilience Foster Carer please contact Amy Sales, Intensive Fostering and Disability Short Break Manager on 07815 827 802 or email amy.sales@staffordshire.gov.uk

Alternatively, you can complete our fostering enquiry form. Or contact our enquiry line on 0800 169 2061. You can also contact the team via email.

Please do not click the 'apply' button please use the enquiry form stated above.

About Staffordshire County Council

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 Silver 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.