Children's Social Worker - Fostering

Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership; Stafford; On-site; GBP 37,000 - 43,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading council in Staffordshire is seeking a qualified Social Worker to support and supervise foster carers. This role offers the chance to work closely with families and ensure the delivery of high-quality care. Ideal candidates will have relevant experience and a commitment to safeguarding and children's welfare, with opportunities for professional development.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 2 years post qualifying experience in social work.
• Understanding and/or experience of working in fostering.
• Current UK driving licence and vehicle.

Responsibilities

• Undertake regular supervision and unannounced visits to approved Foster Carers.
• Conduct fostering assessments in relation to approval changes and special guardianship.
• Maintain working relationships with children’s teams and professionals.

Skills

Understanding of fostering

Ability to build relationships

Education

Qualified Social Worker

Registration with Social Work England

Job description

Staffordshire has a strong commitment to providing quality foster placements for our children and young people in care. We are also committed to ongoing development and innovation.

The Fostering North Team provides support and supervision to foster carers predominantly residing in the North of Staffordshire with some out of county commitments for approved Family & Friends carers. The team benefit from experienced staff with a wealth of social work knowledge and skills.

Main Responsibility

You will:

• undertakeregular supervision, support, and unannounced visits to a variety of approved Foster Carers. This will include Mainstream Carers and Family and Friend’s Foster Carers.
• undertake fostering assessments in relation to changes of approval, Special Guardianship Orders, long-term fostering assessments, approved support carer assessmentsand foster carer annual reviews.
• maintain excellent working relationships with the children’s teams and other professionals to ensure good outcomes for the children and young people in our care.

We have a commitment to the stability of placements, safeguarding children and promoting capacity to provide sufficient placements to meet the needs of children and young people.

The Ideal Candidate

You will be:

• a qualified Social Worker with a minimum of 2 years post qualifying experience, with an understanding and / or experience of working in fostering
• registered with Social Work England.
• have a current UK driving licence and vehicle.

Above all, you willbring the desire to work with children and families to give them the right support, at the right time with the aim of keeping families together where it’s safe to do so.

Interviews will be held on the 10th July 2025

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a GoldAward Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as yourapplication meets the minimum criteria for the post.

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.

• Salary £37,938 - £42,708 plus £963 car allowance per annum
• Frequency Annual
• Job Reference staffscc/TP/15320/3308
• Contract Type Permanent Full time
• Closing Date 22 June, 2025
• Job Category Social Work - Qualified Childrens
• Business Unit Children's Services
• Location Stafford, United Kingdom, United Kingdom