Foster Care Associate in Chirk

Salary: Up to £43,626.47 per annum dependent upon experience

Location: Recruiting social workers across North Wales - Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham

Covering Area: Cymru North

Benefits:

• Company Car or £2,000 Car Allowance
• 30 days' annual leave, rising to 35 days after length of service + bank holidays
• Company Pension Scheme
• Free on-site Parking
• Life Assurance
• Employee Discount Scheme
• Medical Cash Plan

This is an amazing opportunity to join Foster Care Associates. We are seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic Full Time Supervising Social Worker to join our inspirational and friendly team to develop and promote the fostering services in Cymru North. Our office is based in Abergele and we support the hybrid model of working with lots of flexibility to work from home.

Benefits of Joining Our Team:

We are committed to the wellbeing of our staff. The aim of our Staff Wellbeing Strategy is to increase all our employees' wellbeing, self-esteem, and sense of belonging to a team and create new environments for them to spend productive time together. This includes walk and talks at the beach or in parks, wellbeing hour, park runs, mindfulness sessions, sea dipping, yoga sessions, raft racing and charity events to name a few. Our office environment is friendly and inviting with tea, coffee, breakfast and lunch items always available for our staff to contribute towards their wellbeing. Robust induction, supportive management team, monthly reflective supervision with line manager and regular learning and reflective opportunities with the social work team.

Additional Benefits:

• Refer a friend scheme with a monetary incentive
• Opportunity to complete Form Fs for an additional payment
• An exceptional platform available for online and face-to-face training opportunities
• Opportunity to complete Practice Assessor Award
• OOH service (additional payment to social workers for undertaking evening and weekend OOH duty service)

About Us:

Set up by a former Foster Parent and former social worker in 1994, Foster Care Associates (FCA) is an established fostering agency which forms part of the Polaris Community - one of the UK's largest communities of children's service providers. The business was born out of an enthusiasm for delivering fostering services to make a positive difference to the lives of looked-after children. Our first office was in the Worcestershire countryside, and that is still where our head office is today. We have come a long way since those early days. Over the years, FCA has built a strong reputation for excellence, and now offers a wide range of services to children and families. But our purpose remains the same; 'to make a positive and lasting difference for children, families and communities', and it is underpinned by a series of values designed to help us assist children and young people to reach their full potential. Today, we are one of the country's largest and most experienced independent fostering agencies. Just because we are large, does not mean we are impersonal. At FCA we are one big family, and we are committed to supporting every single child and Foster Parent, every single minute of the day.

Duties Will Include:

• Support Foster Parents and their families to achieve outstanding outcomes for all children and young people in foster care
• Support and monitor the continued suitability and competence of Foster Parents, ensuring they provide a safe, healthy, nurturing and learning environment for children/young people
• Ensure that Foster Parents fully understand the fostering task, competencies to be achieved and the standards expected, including complaints and representation procedures as detailed in the FCA policies and procedures
• Provide and record regular supervision to allocated Foster Parents in line with FCA's Operational Standards
• Work in partnership in a team parenting approach to help identify any needs within the foster family, e.g., respite, activities, therapy, holidays, with all members of the child's network, including contributing to all relevant meetings and any other tasks defined
• Ensure each child and Foster Parent are fully compliant in respect of all key documentation
• Attend meetings and/or provide reports for commissioning teams to address individual packages of care
• Promote participation of children/young people in the development of the agency and in accessing resources and opportunities in their local community
• Participate in an 'out of hours' support service on a rota basis
• Participate in day 'duty system' on a rota basis supporting referrals team
• Undertake occasional initial home visits and Form F assessments

You Must Have:

• A Social Work qualification
• Professional registration with Social Work Wales or equivalent
• Proven ability to produce a high standard of report writing
• A comprehensive working knowledge of relevant legislation and child safeguarding procedures
• The willingness and ability to travel extensively, including occasional nights away
• Confidence with transporting children and young people in sometimes stressful/difficult situations
• Full driving licence

Contact:

For more information about this post, please contact Anna Pearson, Fostering Service Manager, on 07587666705. We would love to hear from you to join our amazing friendly team, so to be considered, please apply and we will be in touch. No agencies please.

Foster Care Associates is an equal opportunities employer and has been awarded the Disability Confident Employer by the Jobcentre Plus. The successful applicant will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.