Panel Advisor – Fostering and Permanence Service Hours: Full time (37 hours per week) At Dudley MBC we’re recruiting for a manager to join our dynamic Fostering Service as Panel Adviser and to provide a lead for some of our permanence work. Dudley Fostering Service is dedicated to recruiting and assessing the very best Carers to provide a warm and loving home for our children in care, both mainstream and connected/kinship. We are also committed to delivering high quality support and supervision to our Foster Carers and the children that they look after. We are based at Cable Plaza Dudley, which has the advantage of free parking, and of being co-located with the rest of children’s services. In this post you will report directly to the Service Manager for Fostering. You will also be part of a supportive management team within a restorative local authority that is committed to the training and development of its social work practitioners. The management team consists of two team managers for the support teams, one team manager for the assessment team, an adoption/permanence adviser, and the panel adviser. The managers in the fostering service work closely together and there is an expectation that teams and team managers help each other out when there are any peaks in work, which provides for a supportive and joined up service. As Panel Advisor you will not have any direct reports that you are responsible for, but there is a dedicated panel administrator. You will also: Work with the fostering panel chair to manage the fostering panels and to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of information being presented to the agency decision maker. Attend fostering panels, which are normally held face to face and give advice as appropriate. Work with team managers and social workers across the fostering service and children’s service to ensure that the quality and timeliness of assessments is maintained. Ensure permanence matches for children and young people are completed in a timely manner. Take an active role in our weekly assessment tracking meetings for kinship and mainstream assessments. Fostering panel in Dudley is usually held once a fortnight at venues around Dudley. However, additional panels are being planned for before the end of March given the number of our mainstream fostering assessments. As manager of this team you must be a qualified social worker with previous management experience or management ability. Experience as a panel adviser is desirable, but experience of fostering panel is essential. Workplace Attendance: Working in the office 3 days a week (pro-rata) or Onsite full time So that we can demonstrate Dudley’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and to improve bias in the recruitment process that could create barriers for candidates. Your personal data will be anonymised when you apply, to ensure that you comply with our anonymisation process, please ensure you have removed your name and date of birth from any attachments prior to uploading them to your application. Online application forms will only be accepted for this vacancy, online facilities for jobs are available at public libraries within the Dudley Borough. All applicants must be able to provide documentation to prove their right to work in the UK. Please note: Dudley MBC does not currently offer sponsorship for candidates without the Right to Work in the UK. If you require support completing an online or paper application form and or interview techniques, please contact Dudley Adult and Community Learning on 01384 818 143 or acl@dudley.gov.uk who can support with Digital Skills and Job Applications. If you have a disability and require assistance in making an application please contact the HR Resourcing Team via HR.Resourcing@dudley.gov.uk If you are experiencing a problem whilst applying for a position, please follow the link below to the WM Jobs Help Page in the first instance https://help.wmjobs.co.uk/ If the WM Jobs Help Page does not resolve your issue then please contact the HR Resourcing Team via HR.Resourcing@dudley.gov.uk Dudley Council will check the information that you have provided against any details already held for accuracy and completeness. The Council will check, share and cross match your information both internally within the council and with external organisations to protect public funds and prevent or detect crime, only where the law allows us to do so. The Council’s full Privacy and Disclaimer Statement can be accessed on the website at https://www.dudley.gov.uk/privacy-disclaimer-statement/ N.B. We reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the advertised date should we receive a large number of applications LI-DMBC2019 Attached documents JD PS Employee Benefits List.pdf