Social Worker - Fostering

NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL; Northallerton; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

North Yorkshire Council is recruiting a Fostering Social Worker based in Northallerton, North Yorkshire. The role primarily focuses on assessing prospective Kinship Foster Carers and providing supervision throughout the assessment process.

You will be a qualified Social Worker with fostering experience, capable of safeguarding and building strong multi-agency relationships. A DBS check is required, and the post includes an out-of-hours rota as part of a 37-hour week.

Qualifications

• Qualified Social Worker with safeguarding knowledge.
• Experience in fostering or kinship care is preferred.
• Ability to build effective professional relationships.

Responsibilities

• Assess prospective Kinship Foster Carers and provide ongoing supervision.
• Support carers throughout the assessment process to ensure safe, stable care.
• Conduct home visits and participate in out-of-hours rota as required.

Skills

Kinship care assessment

Supervision

Home visits

DBS disclosure

Job description

Hours: 37 per week Location: Northallerton, North Yorkshire

We have an excellent opportunity to join our experienced team of Fostering Social Workers, who are responsible for assessing, supervising, and supporting North Yorkshire's foster carers.

About the service

North Yorkshire Council have a national reputation for excellence, and we are extremely proud of the work our Children’s Services do

The team works with both prospective foster carers throughout the assessment process and approved foster carers across the county, ensuring children receive safe, stable, and nurturing care that meets their individual needs.

About the role

The role of Fostering Social Worker requires a broad range of professional skills; however, this post will primarily focus on the assessment of prospective Kinship Foster Carers. The role will also involve providing supervision and support throughout the assessment process, recognising that many kinship carers will initially hold temporary approval while a full assessment is completed.

You will be a qualified Social Worker, ideally with experience in fostering, and have a sound understanding of the impact of adverse childhood experiences and developmental trauma. You will be committed to achieving positive outcomes for children by building effective working relationships with a wide range of professionals and services to support fostering families.

Applicants should have a good understanding of the fostering process, particularly the assessment, supervision and support of Kinship Foster Carers. You should also be familiar with the statutory and regulatory responsibilities associated with their approval and ongoing review, ensuring that children receive safe, stable, and nurturing care within their family networks.

The post involves a degree of working outside normal office hours for home visits and group work. North Yorkshire Fostering offer an Out of Hours phone line between 6-10pm weekday and 2pm-6pm weekends, it is an expectation of the post that you are part of this rota which equates to 2 slots per month (Full time).

It is an exciting time in Children and Young Peoples Services in North Yorkshire as we plan our approach in respect of the Families First Partnership Programme and how we will be responding to the social care reforms. Work is underway to plan our approach and implementations for 2027. As a result of this, some realignment may happen with job roles in the future, we want to be transparent about this in respect of this role.

Enhanced Level DBS Disclosure isrequiredfor appointment to this post.

We are committed to the inclusion, safeguarding, and promoting the welfare ofchildren andadults at risk.

North Yorkshire Councils’ purpose is to deliver services and facilities to the diverse residents and visitors of North Yorkshire. To ensure we deliver inclusive services we strive to have a diverse workforce where everybody can be themselves by respecting differences and embedding equality ofopportunity. We celebrate diversity and recognise each other’s contributions; we therefore welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds.