Intensive Fostering Support Practitioner.

Essex County Council; Essex; On-site; GBP 33,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

Essex County Council’s Intensive Fostering Service is seeking an Intensive Fostering Support Practitioner to join a newly formed team. This permanent, full-time role is based in Colchester with travel across the county.

You will provide stability to looked-after children, work evenings and weekends when required, and contribute to safeguarding using our trauma-informed approach.

Qualifications

• Educated to NVQ level 3 or equivalent by experience.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional areas (e.g., Housing, Employment, and training Issues for young People).
• Experience in working creatively with young people including young parents.
• Experience in collaborating with other professionals and agencies for the benefit of the client.
• Commitment to working relationships which promote and support the clients' developing independence.

Responsibilities

• To give practical, personal, and emotional support to young people to meet assessed needs and promote wellbeing.
• To facilitate assessment of need and ongoing monitoring and reassessment over time.
• To enable and empower young people to make decisions and self-advocate.
• To work with colleagues and other agencies in direct work with young people.
• To build interagency networks and maintain records and reports per policy.

Skills

Teamwork

Flexibility

Trauma-informed practice

Education

NVQ level 3 or equivalent

Job description

Intensive Fostering Support Practitioner.

Permanent, Full Time

£33,049 to £37,698 Per Annum.

Location: Colchester

Closing Date: Wednesday 7th October 2026 at 11.59pm

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must have a current, unrestricted right to work in the UK.

Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It's an exciting time to join us having received our 2nd Outstanding Ofsted rating in a row.

Interview Date: TBC. Interview location: County Hall, Market Road, Chelmsford, Essex. CM1 1QH.

The Role

This is a role for a newly formed team following on from a successful PILOT. This role encompasses many different roles, and you will be expected to work to support both foster carers and young people. Your role is to help provide stability to the young person for them to achieve their best. At times this role will be outside of normal hours. We require you to have experience of fostering working with children in care and our therapeutic approach. This role will include travel across a quadrant and potentially the County, and beyond.

The base location for the role could set to Basildon, Chelmsford, Clacton or Colchester depending on the location of the successful applicant.

The Opportunity

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity, and compassion; promoting the development and wellbeing of children, young people, and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse. Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers, and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future.

This role is for the Fostering Service, you will need to be able to work as part of a team and be flexible with an ability to work some evenings and weekends, when required. The main focus of work will be, to support young people who are "Looked After" (in care). Supporting young people on a daily basis to consider all the important component parts that make up their individual lives in order to maximize their life opportunities and reach their full potential.

To carry out agreed plans to support young people both directly and indirectly, to act on behalf of the Social Care Directorate in fulfilling statutory responsibilities under the Children Act 1989, the Children Leaving Care Act 2000, and The Children and Social Work Act 2018, and familiar with Fostering regulations.

Accountabilities

• To give practical, personal, and emotional support to young people in order to meet assessed needs; to maintain and promote their health, physical, emotional development, and well-being. This may include domestic tasks and transporting where necessary.
• To facilitate, directly and indirectly the assessment of need, engaging with the ongoing monitoring and reassessment of need, engaging with the ongoing monitoring and reassessment of need over time.
• To enable and empower young people to make decisions in their lives and to self-advocate and to advocate on behalf of young people who do not have the skills to do this.
• To work alongside colleagues both within Social Care and from other agencies, in a variety of ways, undertaking direct work with young people and to engage with significant people in the young person's life (members of the family, community etc).
• To build up effective interagency networks to have an understanding of voluntary and statutory agencies and an awareness of opportunities within the Local Community.
• To maintain records and write reports as required in accordance with Directorate policy and procedures.
• To attend meetings as required by the Line Manager, e.g., Reviews, Planning Meetings etc. and carry out any other appropriate duties that may be required, which are commensurate with the grade of the post.
• Delivery Intensive Fostering Support Plans for children.
• Support carers and children crisis to support placement stability.
• Facilitate Team Around the Placement Meeting when required.
• Work within a trauma informed placement support framework.
  
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to NVQ level 3 or equivalent by experience.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional areas. e.g., Housing, Employment, and training Issues for young People
• Experience in working creatively with in various ways young people including young parents.
• Experience in collaborating with other professionals and agencies for the benefit of the client
• A commitment to working relationships which promote and support the clients' developing independence.
• Be able to work as part of a team and be flexible with an ability to work some evenings and weekends.
• Familiarity with the principles of the Children's Act 1989 and the Children Leaving Care Act 2000 and Children and Social Work Act 2018 and familiar with Fostering regulations.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.