Social Worker, Kinship Team

We are seeking dedicated and experienced Social Workers to join the Kinship Team within our Fostering Service. The Kinship Team are responsible for assessing potential Kinship Carers in addition to providing them with support and supervision in order to meet the needs of the children in their care

In this role, you will provide support to ensure that our Kinship Carers meet the National Minimum Standards. The Social Worker’s role is to ensure that Kinship Carers are supported to provide a high standard of care to our most vulnerable children. We are looking for an experienced Social Worker who is able to balance the need to challenge with the need to provide support. We work with extended families to enable them to support the children that they care for, which we know can at times be difficult for them.

Key responsibilities include

As a Social Worker on the Kinship Team, you will be expected to undertake the following

Assess potential Kinship Carers suitability to foster, or Special Guardians suitability to care for children until adulthood.

Complete regular home visits including unannounced visits during and following the assessment process.

Regular communication with everyone involved in the child or young person’s life including meetings, reviews and information sharing.

Support Kinship Carers to attend meetings, help with their report writing and ensure that they keep appropriate records.

Work with the child(ren)’s Social Worker and Kinship Carers to manage and maintain family time between the children and their parents.

Support the carers to access relevant training opportunities each carer may need.

Support carers to meet the national minimum standards and regulatory requirements which are needed to become a Kinship Carer.

Write balanced reports including annual foster carer reviews, present reviews at fostering panel with carers and contribute to writing standards of care/allegation reports when necessary.

Offer practical and emotional support to Kinship Carers.

About You

We are looking for an individual who is passionate about fostering, has knowledge of kinship fostering, and who possesses the following skills and experience:

Essential Criteria

We would welcome applicants who meet the following criteria

A Social Work Degree and are registered with Social Work England

Completed their Assessed and Supported Year of Employment

Have worked in a safeguarding setting

Experience of writing balanced reports

Confident in preparing and presenting reports

Excellent ICT, communication and organisational skills

Experience and some knowledge of the Fostering National Minimum Standards

Knowledge and ideally some experience of using strengths-based approaches, restorative practice and knowledge of the Mockingbird Model

Ability to recognise when support is needed and respond proportionally to crisis

Desirable Criteria

Has worked in a Local Authority as a social worker

Experience of working with kinship carers

Experience of attending and presenting at a fostering panel

Experience of assessment writing

Contact Information

For further information about the role, please contact the Kinship Team Manager Stacey Jones at stacey.jones@n-somerset.gov.uk

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

Disability Confident

About Disability Confident

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.