Social Worker in Leeds

Barnardo's is one of the UK's leading children’s charities, and our North England Fostering Service is committed to providing safe, nurturing, and supportive homes for children and young people. We are now seeking a passionate and skilled Supervising Social Worker to join our dedicated team. North England service covers Yorkshire, Humber and the North East of England. The successful applicant must be willing to drive across this region as part of their role.

Main duties of the job

• Supervise, support, and develop foster carers to ensure the best outcomes for children.
• Undertake assessments of prospective foster carers.
• Contribute to the matching process and foster home stability.
• Work collaboratively with children, families, carers, and professionals.
• Maintain accurate and timely records in line with regulatory requirements.
• Deliver training to foster carers.
• Following induction period, join our out of hours rota.

About us

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti‑racist organisation with Anti‑Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

Job responsibilities

• Provide customised and focused Social Work support to Barnardo's cohort of foster carers and/or adopters to ensure they provide a safe and secure environment for children/young people placed.
• Undertake appropriate Social Work assessments in line with the needs of the service users.
• Adhere at all times to relevant Safeguarding procedures and immediately report child protection concerns internally in line with Barnardo's policy and when appropriate to external bodies.
• Maintain knowledge and understanding of and adhere at all times to all Barnardo's policies and procedures, legislative requirements and relevant inspection bodies criteria.
• Produce Social Work reports to be used externally and internally.
• Represent Barnardo's and/or the service at external and internal meetings.
• In accordance with Barnardo's policies and procedures, assist senior management to address service complaints as and when required.
• As and when required, provide support to colleagues at Joint Supervision meetings.
• Contribute to the development of the service by ensuring the voice of children/young people and carers/adopters are represented in the service through engaging in and where appropriate lead in the delivery of participation and consultation activities.
• Deliver relevant training to Barnardo's cohort of foster carers and adopters to the relevant standards on both a group and individual basis and provide feedback to enable training materials to be updated to remain relevant and effective.
• Provide feedback to enable the development of service policies and procedures or assist with service development projects in line with service business plans.
• Supervision of staff, students or volunteers may be expected, allocating work, day to day supervision & support.

Qualifications

• Relevant Social Work Qualification such as DipSW, CSS, CQSW.
• Valid Social Work registration Social Work England / CCWales / SSSC / NISCC.

Experience

• Previous post qualifying experience in child care settings and/or pre-qualifying work experience in Fostering & Adoption.
• Experience of group work and/or delivery of training.
• Demonstrable experience in working with and on behalf of children, respecting and maintaining their individuality and promoting their positive development.
• Experience of undertaking assessments.
• Post qualifying experience in Fostering & Adoption is highly desirable.

Skills

• Ability to produce complex reports and management information to be used for internal and external purposes.
• Ability to work with a degree of autonomy, in a flexible and creative manner whilst maintaining adherence to policy and procedure at all times.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£36,427 to £48,749 a year plus Office at Home Allowance - £312 per annum.