This role will predominantly focus on supporting and developing the Mockingbird Hubs within our service.We currently have three established Mockingbird Hubs, with a fourth hub going live in March 2026 and plans to establish a fifth by May 202, subject to the recruitment of a Hub Carer. The continued expansion of the Mockingbird programme represents a significant achievement for the Local Authority and will positively impact placement stability, carer resilience and peer support networks. In this role, you will play a central part in ensuring foster carers meet the National Minimum Standards and provide a consistently high standard of care to our most vulnerable children. The ability to balance appropriate professional challenge with meaningful support is essential. Core Responsibilities – Supervising Social Worker 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. Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident .