Qualified Social Worker - Fostering Service - Supervising and supporting approved foster carers - Portsmouth

This is an exciting time to join Portsmouth City Council Fostering Service as we strive to further enhance outcomes for the children we care for. Portsmouth City Council may be small but we are mighty in our goal in providing an exceptional fostering service.

As a fostering service, we recognise that children need diversity of carers whilst they cannot live with their parents. We support approved foster carers, kinship carers, private foster carers and offer a range of support including formal supervision, training, mentoring, support groups and social events. We have a fantastic cohort of carers who are committed to Portsmouth and the children we care for. The vast majority of those children live with our own foster carers. We are creative and open to new ways of working: having launched the Fostering Network Mockingbird model of care in 2021 we now have a well-established and successful Mockingbird community of carers.

As a supervising social worker, you will be joining a very dynamic team where great relationships are in place with our social work colleagues, partner agencies and of course foster carers. You will manage and support a caseload of foster carers to provide excellent care to ensure best outcomes for children we care for and supporting carers to apply a trauma-informed approach in their care of children. The role of the supervising social worker is critical in supporting the carer to develop good relationships with children and their families, providing stable nurturing family homes, supporting children in all areas of their development for as long as the children need to be with them.

This is an ideal opportunity to use your knowledge and experience of working with foster carers and children we care for to supervise and enhance the development of foster carers. We want individuals to champion the very best social work practice, who are motivated, flexible, enthusiastic, passionate and with a "can do" attitude who share our passion for improving children's and young persons' lives.

• Manage a caseload of foster carers, supporting them to provide trauma-informed care.
• Promote stable, nurturing family environments for children.
• Collaborate with professionals as part of the team around the child.
• Work within statutory and service timescales.
• Engage with various fostering models, including the Mockingbird Model.
• Participate in support systems such as duty rotas, mentoring, training, and out-of-hours services.
• Undertake lead roles as part of our enhanced service development plan.

• Qualified and registered social worker (Social Work England).
• Experience in children and families work, especially with foster carers or looked-after children.
• Understanding of therapeutic parenting and trauma-informed care.
• Strong knowledge of legislation and safeguarding standards.
• Skilled in restorative practice and solution-focused approaches.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and report-writing skills.
• Resilient, flexible, and team oriented.
• Willingness to travel and participate in out-of-hours support.

Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention to the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.

You will be required to work a minimum of three full working days in office.

If you would like to discuss this role in more detail with the hiring manager, please contact Jackie Clark or Donna Parnum.

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills.

We are a disability confident employer and have an Armed Forces Covenant. We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. DBS Disclosure at Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.