Job Information
Achieving for Children is a Community Interest Company that has a public sector ethos, combined with the freedom to innovate enabling us to do things differently. As a not-for-profit social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston and Richmond), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government. To find out more about us .
Family Group Conference Lead - Kingston & Richmond
Join a team that's officially Outstanding! Achieving for Children's Children’s Services have now been rated Outstanding by Ofsted in both Richmond and Kingston. Our overall services are praised for exceptional care and a workforce that puts children at the center of everything we do. We are proud of this success and note that our specialised Fostering Service has been separately inspected and graded ‘Good’ by Ofsted, highlighting the quality of our dedicated fostering provision.
If you want to be part of a team that's setting the standard for excellence, we want to hear from you. To find out more click .
Achieving for Children (AfC) is a community interest company (a not-for-profit social enterprise) created in 2014 by the Royal Borough of Kingston and the London Borough of Richmond to provide their children’s services. In 2017, the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead joined AfC as our third owner. We now deliver social care, education and health services to children and young people across all three boroughs. AfC also operates as an Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) across these three localities. AfC early help and social work teams prioritise safeguarding children and work closely with families and partner agencies to support children and families so that children can live safe and happy lives.
AfC is currently seeking to recruit an experienced Family Group Conference Lead to work across Kingston and Richmond.
This is a full-time, 12-month fixed-term role.
Operational area Kingston and Richmond Primary place of work Guildhall 2, Kingston upon Thames KT1 Appointment type Fixed Term Length of contract 12 months Business area Children's Social Care Full time/Part time Full-time Salary from £48,003 (SCP34) Salary to £51,138 (SCP37) Hours 36 Estimated Interview date/s W/C 26/01/2025 Closing Date 16/01/2026 Ref No 2204 Documents
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About the role
AfC is currently seeking to recruit two experienced Family Group Conference Leads, this role will work in Kingston & Richmond, we are also advertising the same post to work across Windsor & Maidenhead in a separate advertisement. This role combines direct practice in facilitating Family Group Conferences (FGC), supporting the coordination of FGC as needed across the organisation and leading on practice development and training to develop AfC’s approach to Family Led Decision Making (FLDM), including FGC for colleagues across our services.
The FLDM model is used to bring family members and friends together to look at how they can collectively provide safe, supportive, and sustainable solutions to the problems being experienced in caring for children within the family.
You will prioritise facilitating the participation of children and young people and their families, when they are working with agencies and work alongside frontline professionals to embed practices around FLDM and FGC.
The role will involve:
2. Coordinating Family Group Conferences – working with children, young people, families, and their wider networks, alongside partners and practitioners, to explore strengths, develop safety/support plans, and ensure family voices are central to decision-making.
3. Developing best practice – support, mentor, and train other practitioners to develop skills in exploring family and kinship networks, with a focus on early identification of support options and alternative care arrangements.
4. Promoting a Culture of Family Engagement – champion best practice in family-led planning and contribute to embedding practices that prioritise family connections within children’s social care.
The post will require some working in the evenings and weekends, as well as working across Kingston, Richmond and Windsor & Maidenhead offices.
Please refer to the job profile for more information, for an informal discussion on any queries about the role please contact Claire Hunt at
About you
The successful candidate will be:
5. FGC accreditation is an essential requirement
6. Experience of arranging and completing family group conferencing.
7. Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of Children Act 1989 and 2004, Fostering Regulations and National Minimum Standards; including awareness of current national policy, evidence based research and best practice that affects children’s social care.
8. Skilled in designing and delivering training sessions to a range of children’s social care professionals.
9. Experienced in coaching, mentoring, and reflective practice, supporting colleagues to build confidence in family network exploration.
10. Experienced in keeping and maintaining records and producing accurate reports, presentations, written updates to a range of stakeholders.
11. Strong mediation skills in order that differences of opinion can be expressed constructively.
12. Experience of building strong partnerships, maintaining relationships and co-producing solutions to challenges across a diverse set of stakeholders, including children, young people and their families. Advocating the voices of those we are working with.
13. Experience of addressing specific equality or diversity issues within your practice with colleagues/service users and taking action to solve them.
About our benefits
We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:
14. 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years with an additional day off in your birthday month (Or for term-time workers, your leave entitlement consists of the non-working periods in your contract)
15. Tailored induction sessions commencing on the date you start working for AfC
16. Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension)
17. Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance
18. A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
19. A range of staff benefits and discounts
20. An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway
To find out about all of the breadth of benefits of working for Achieving for Children. For our social work offer. For our Recruitment Journey,
Important Information
Start dates: Achieving for Children have meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month. Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.
Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the for right to work guidance.
Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.
Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.