Fostering Social Worker - Team Leader

Team Leader for Foster Care Social Workers working within a private fostering agency, starting salary up to £43,000 depending on experience and responsibilities

Exciting opportunity to join an established Fostering Agency providing day to day support to Foster Carers and children in care as well as managing a team of fostering social workers. Home based position with requirement to travel.

Social Worker Team Leader key requirements:

• Flexible approach to work, including availability to work weekends where required and be on-call overnight.
• Ability to provide both hands on and administrative support to Foster Carers and children in care
• Must drive, have access to a car and be willing to travel - role involves regular visits to foster carers homes across the region and visits to the Head Office in Stockport as and when required
• Willing to get involved in all aspects of the Social Workers duties, including training foster carers, supporting looked after children in their placements, maintaining accurate and legally compliant records and assisting foster carers to do the same. 
• Must have the skills to manage a team of remote working Social Workers effectively, including ensuring cover arrangements are made for sickness and holidays and manageing any minor inter-staff issues that arise within your team
• Must have good attention to detail and current awareness of regulatory requirements within a fostering agency 
• Must undergo an Enhanced DBS (criminal record) check which will be paid for by the employer
• Must have previous experience within the social care or health care sectors 
• Must hold a degree in Social Work, must hold an NVQ in assessing and must be currently registered with HCPC as a Social Worker.

Social Worker Team Leader main duties:

• Day to day support of foster carers and the children they care for
• Day to day social worker duties including leasing with professionals both internally and externally to ensure foster carers are providing the best care to children
• Day to day management of a small team of social workers
• Administrative tasks including ensuring foster carers checks and references are completed and kept up to date, children's paperwork is completed and filed as required.
• Assisting with the child referral process to help the company place children with appropriate families, and support those families to accommodate the children, sometimes in an emergency situation
• Ensuring foster carers are aware of their legal obligations and helping them to meet those obligations
• Assisting with the foster carer review process
• Assisting with the ongoing recruitment of foster carers and raising awareness of fostering to help the company expand
• Participation at a senior level in the management function, including regular attendance at meetings with Directors to discuss current issues and share best practice across the business

Social Worker Team Leader skills and qualities:

• Ability to communicate well with professionals on all levels, from both inside and outside the organisation, from Directors, to office staff, to local authority personnel and police
• Good administrative and organisational skills
• Ability to work with and engage with children and young people from all backgrounds
• Ability to manage people effectively, specifically professional people in a remote working environment
• Ability to effectively manage own time and meet required objectives
• Self motivated, able to use own initiative whilst adhering to legislation in a heavily regulated industry
• A supportive and caring nature in order to provide appropriate support to foster carers, children and your staff team when required

The Company

Parallel Parents is an Independent Fostering Agency and has been established for over 20 years. As a family run business, the child centred and supportive approach really makes Parallel Parents stand out from other agencies. The Agency has been rated "Outstanding" by Ofsted in their last two inspections. There are opportunities for progression for the right people, including support to achieve Social Work and Management qualifications through the sister organisation, Training 2 Care. The second sister organisation, Care Today, has around 25 Children's Homes across the country, giving further career opportuntiies to those who want them.

View the original job article on Hiredonline
http://www.hiredonline.co.uk/job/378119/fostering-social-worker-team-leader/