Social Worker (Kinship Service)

​Are you passionate about kinship care?

A fantastic opportunity has arisen to work within the brand new specialist Kinship Supervision and Permanence Support Team!

Here at Staffordshire we recognise the need for specialist Kinship support, our brand new team will boost our provision and provides a fantastic opportunity to provide nurture, support and supervision working creatively to ensure children remain within the family and friends network.

Our new Kinship Supervision and Permanence team will provide:

• supervision and support to kinship foster carers across the county following their approval from panel, this can include families where there are additional support needs. 
• provide more directive support to kinship foster carers with a focus on alleviating any barriers progressing to a permanence route which best suits their family life, but most importantly is in a child’s best interest.
• to progress the Special Guardianship (SGO) report for Court, including the SGO support plan, and manage Court proceedings to conclusion where the care plan for the child in their care is Special Guardianship 
• once an SGO is granted they will support the transition from this team to the Special Guardianship Post Order Support Team.  

This is a county wide team based in Stafford. You will be undertaking visits to families in a range of areas as such a mixture of home and office working is promoted. 

Main Responsibilities

As an supervising social worker, you will:

• undertaking regular supervision, support, and unannounced visits to a variety of approved kinship foster carers 
• also undertake fostering assessments in relation to changes of approval and foster carer annual reviews and Special Guardianship reports for Court
• close liaison is maintained with children’s teams and others involved in the team around fostered children to ensure good outcomes for children.

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 SGO Post Order Support Team as well as other Fostering and Kinship Teams across the service.  

The Ideal Candidate

You will: 

• be a Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England with ideally 2 year's experience
• be able to demonstrate an understanding of the Fostering National Minimum Standards / Fostering Regulations / Special Guardianship Regulations. 
• have excellent report writing and communication skills
• be highly organised and able to manage a busy workload in order to meet deadlines.
• be able to work as part of our team and the wider service, whilst having the initiative and confidence to work autonomously when required.
• have 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 

Interviews will held on either the either the 11th or 12th December

“We’re happy to talk flexible working” 

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully with evidence of essential qualifications, alongside the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

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 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.