Core Responsibilities
* Provide regular, reflective supervision to allocated foster carers and maintain consistent contact with carers, children, and children’s social workers.
* Undertake regular home visits, including a minimum of two unannounced visits per year, alongside ongoing communication with professionals and significant individuals in the child or young person’s life.
* Support foster carers to attend and contribute to professional meetings, assist with report writing, and ensure accurate and appropriate record keeping.
* Work collaboratively with foster carers and children’s social workers to manage and, where appropriate, maintain contact arrangements between children and their birth families.
* Identify and coordinate training and development opportunities to support carers in meeting National Minimum Standards and achieving their individual learning goals.
* Complete balanced annual foster carer reviews, present reviews at fostering panel, and contribute to Standards of Care or allegation reports where required.
* Undertake fostering duty tasks, including family finding for children requiring Local Authority care.
* Provide practical and emotional support to foster carers and colleagues to reduce the risk of placement breakdown and promote stability.
Mockingbird Liaison Responsibilities
In addition to a caseload that is reflective of the tasks undertaken, this role will have a dedicated focus on the Mockingbird programme.
Each constellation consists of 6–10 fostering households who are supported by a Hub Carer. The Supervising Social Worker will:
* Provide formal supervision to Hub Carers at least every four weeks, offering reflective, strengths-based and solution-focused support. These sessions may be extended in response to complex constellation dynamics.
* Offer enhanced support to newly established constellations, including additional visits, attendance at hub meetings and coffee mornings, and increased availability during implementation phases.
* Respond promptly to queries and concerns raised by Hub Carers and constellation members as they develop confidence within the model.
* Support the inclusion of kinship carers within constellations, offering guidance to sensitively manage complex or confidential issues.
* Promote relationship‑building across fostering households, encouraging engagement from foster carers, fostered children, birth children, and children subject to Special Guardianship Orders.
* Ensure fidelity to the Mockingbird Model and compliance with standards set by The Fostering Network and the Department for Education.
* Contribute to the sustainability, quality assurance and strategic development of the programme as it expands to five constellations.
Impact of the Role
The early formation of a constellation requires intensive support to establish trust, shared responsibility and strong peer relationships between fostering households. The Supervising Social Worker will play a critical role in scaffolding this development and ensuring that hubs remain stable, compliant and effective.
By supporting both individual foster carers and the wider Mockingbird constellations, this role will directly contribute to improved placement stability, enhanced carer confidence and better outcomes for children in care.
This position requires excellent supervisory and assessment skills, strong relationship‑building capabilities, resilience in managing complexity, and a commitment to delivering high standards of fostering practice within an innovative and evolving service.
About You
We are looking for an individual who is passionate about fostering and who possesses the following skills and experience:
Essential Criteria
* Has a Social Work Degree and is registered with Social Work England
* Work experience within a fostering team, service users and social care professionals
* Experience of writing balanced reports and in-depth foster carer reviews
* Confident in preparing and presenting reports to foster panel
* Excellent ICT, communication and organisational skills
* Experience and knowledge of the Fostering National Minimum Standards
* Knowledge and experience of using strengths‑based approaches, restorative practice and knowledge of Mockingbird Model
* Ability to recognise when support is needed and respond proportionally to crisis
Desirable Criteria
* Has worked in a Local Authority who adopts the Mockingbird Model
* Experience of working with the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)
* Experience of attending a foster panel
* Experience of writing a safeguarding report e.g. standards of care/allegation report
* Worked within a child protection/safeguarding team
Contact Information
For further information about the role, please contact the Fostering Team Manager Louisa Loveridge at louisa.loveridge@n-somerset.gov.uk or 07385373086
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