Overview
We have an exciting vacancy in the Fostering Support Team for a Social Worker. For more information please see the sections below.
Responsibilities
Are you eager for a new challenge? Do you share our enthusiasm, commitment and determination for fostering? If so this is the role for you!
We are looking for a permanent Social Worker to join our Fostering Support Team. Our aim in Fostering is to achieve stability for our children and young people, ensuring that they are supported to thrive in all areas of their lives, enjoy all aspects of family life and in doing so, achieving their full potential.
Along with our Foster Carers, we work hard to ensure that all of our children are in homes which meet their needs, reflect their right to safety and security, and encourage them to find their voice and use it as we support them towards independence, adoption or reunification home.
This is a hybrid post with required days in the office and other days working from home. We are a county wide service and are keen to explore flexible working as needed.
Day-to-day responsibilities include:
* Providing ongoing support and supervision to Foster Carers and Fostering households, ensuring that the children in the home are seen regularly and their voices are captured in supervision visits.
* Supporting carers in developing their therapeutic care whilst supporting and challenging, as needed, their practice to ensure it is meeting the needs of all children.
* Maintaining personal compliance, ensuring Foster Carers Supervisions, Safer Caring plans, unannounced visits and fostering reviews are completed within timescales.
* Ensuring households are compliant in all areas of the fostering task and meeting the guidelines in line with the Fostering Services Regulations and National Minimum Standards.
* Providing written and verbal reports for a variety of settings, including Fostering Panels for Annual Reviews and stability Meetings and Matching Reports that are concise, informative and based on analysis of evidence of the Carers skills and the Child/ren needs.
* Aiding in the recruitment of Foster Carers and promoting the Service through support with fostering events and the Duty line/Out of Hours telephone support.
* Working in a holistic manner with internal and external colleagues. Supporting with service development and addressing issues that impact upon carer retention or satisfaction.
* Engaging meaningfully with training and supervision for ongoing development, skills and knowledge.
Experience and qualifications
You are a confident and dynamic individual who enjoy making a difference, are curious in your practice and enjoy building relationships with Carers and Children.
You must:
* Be a qualified Social Worker with a Social Work England registration
* Have the ability to work from a variety of locations and travel countywide independently
About us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population and a mix of urban and rural areas. We value our colleagues and offer a range of benefits, including a wellbeing package and development opportunities.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to reflect this diversity. We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and to providing reasonable adjustments during recruitment and in employment.
Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; wellbeing package; staff benefits; and our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
For more information, contact the Fostering Team Managers Sharyl Acheampong or Mariepearl Camfield at Sharyl.Acheampong@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or Mariepearl.camfield@cambridgeshire.gov.uk, or call Nathalie on 01480 377619. Interviews will take place the week commencing 3rd November 2025.
Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Benefits
* A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
* 6 days of protected time each year to support in maintaining your Continuous Professional Development
* A relocation package of up to £8,000 (eligibility applies)
* A pay progression scheme to enable you to accelerate through the pay grade as you gain experience and skills
* A Refer a Friend Scheme where if you refer another Social Worker to us who is subsequently employed by us as a result of that introduction, we will pay you an introduction fee of £350
* Access to our Cambridgeshire Academy for Reaching Excellence (CARE) who will support your development, enabling you to become the best practitioner you can be
For more information and to see our other benefits, take a look at the benefits brochure attached to this advert.
Application details
What will you be doing?
* Day-to-day responsibilities of a Fostering Social Worker include: Providing ongoing support and supervision to Foster Carers and Fostering households, ensuring that the children in the home are seen regularly and their voices are captured in supervision visits.
* Supporting carers in developing their therapeutic care whilst supporting and challenging, as needed, their practice to ensure it is meeting the needs of all children.
* Maintaining personal compliance, ensuring Foster Carers Supervisions, Safer caring plans, unannounced visits and fostering reviews are completed within timescales.
* Ensuring households are compliant in all areas of the fostering task and meeting the guidelines in line with the Fostering Services Regulations and National Minimum Standards.
* Providing written and verbal reports for a variety of settings, including Fostering Panels for Annual Reviews and stability Meetings and Matching Reports that are concise, informative and based on analysis of evidence of the Carers skills and the Child/ren needs.
* Aiding in the recruitment of Foster Carers and promoting the Service through support with fostering events and the Duty line/Out of Hours telephone support.
* Working in a holistic manner with internal and external colleagues. Supporting with service development and addressing issues that impact upon carer retention or satisfaction.
* Engaging meaningfully with training and supervision for your ongoing development, skills and knowledge.
About you
You are a confident and dynamic individual who enjoys making a difference, are curious in your practice and enjoy building relationships with Carers and Children.
You must:
* Be a qualified Social Worker with a Social Work England registration
* Have the ability to work from a variety of locations and travel countywide independently
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to reflect this diversity, which we believe is beneficial for our employees, the organisation and the communities we serve.
For a full list of the requirements of the role, please check out the Job Description & Person Specification.
About us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.
Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity. We are committed to building a compassionate and inclusive workplace and invite applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds.
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, IDEAL network, and support groups help us foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment. We collect diversity data to monitor recruitment trends and take action where needed.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader and provide reasonable adjustments throughout recruitment and employment. Please contact the Hiring Manager to discuss adjustments. We offer a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria. You may indicate in your application if you are disabled.
Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about learning and development opportunities, wellbeing, staff benefits, and equality, diversity and inclusion.
http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers
Person Specification
General Requirements
* Please refer to job description above
* Please refer to job description above
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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