Social Worker - Fostering Support and Supervision Team

Cambridge County Council; Huntingdon; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 46,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellbeing package

6 days CPD time

Relocation package up to £8,000

Pay progression scheme

Refer a Friend £350

CARE - Cambridgeshire Academy for Reh?

Job summary

Cambridgeshire County Council is seeking a dedicated Fostering Social Worker to support foster carers and children in care across Cambridgeshire. You will provide supervision, visits and statutory assessments to ensure safe, nurturing outcomes.

You will work with birth families and partner agencies, contribute to training and recruitment events, and travel across the county. A social work qualification and registration with Social Work England are essential.

Qualifications

• Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England.
• Experience working with children and families.
• Willing to travel independently across Cambridgeshire.
• Willing to attend recruitment events and evenings.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Commitment to safeguarding and promoting welfare.

Responsibilities

• Provide supervision and support to foster carers.
• Visit fostering households and conduct statutory assessments.
• Ensure children's voices are central to planning.
• Collaborate with education, health and voluntary partners.
• Complete timely case recordings and reports.
• Deliver training and support groups for foster carers.
• Support foster carer recruitment events and community activities.
• Contribute to service development and improvements.

Skills

Qualified Social Worker

Children & families experience

Travel across Cambridgeshire

Recruitment events participation

Written & verbal communication

Safeguarding commitment

Education

Registered with Social Work England

Job description

Are you passionate about making a lasting difference to the lives of children and young people? Do you enjoy building meaningful relationships, supporting foster families, and being part of a dedicated and supportive team? If so, we'd love to hear from you.

The Fostering Support Team, based at Scott House, Huntingdon, is an established, welcoming, and enthusiastic team committed to achieving the very best outcomes for children and young people in care. We are looking for a motivated and child-centred Social Worker to join us on this rewarding journey.

At the heart of everything we do is a commitment to ensuring children and young people experience stability, security, and a strong sense of belonging. Working alongside our incredible foster carers, we strive to provide nurturing homes where children can thrive, enjoy family life, develop their identity, and achieve their full potential.

We are passionate about ensuring every child has the opportunity to feel safe, heard, valued, and supported. Whether a child's journey leads to independence, adoption, reunification, or long-term fostering, we are committed to walking alongside them every step of the way.

If you share our values and are inspired by the opportunity to make a real difference, we would love to hear from you. For more information, contact the Fostering Team Manager Sharyl Acheampong [e-mail]

Closing date 3 November, interviews will be held week commencing 9 November.

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.

Our benefits

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage

• A comprehensivewellbeing package to coverall aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• 6 days ofprotected time each year to support in maintaining your Continuous Professional Development
• Arelocation package of up to £8,000 (eligibility applies)
• Apay progression scheme to enable you to accelerate through the pay grade as you gain experience and skills
• ARefer a Friend Schemewhere if you refer another Social Worker to us who is subsequently employed by us as a result of that introduction, we'll pay you an introduction fee of £350
• Access to ourCambridgeshire 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.

What will you be doing?

As a Fostering Social Worker, no two days are the same. You will play a vital role in supporting foster carers and ensuring children and young people receive the best possible care and opportunities to flourish.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing professional supervision, guidance, and support to foster carers, enabling them to meet the needs of children and young people effectively.
• Building positive and trusting relationships with foster families, children, birth families, and partner agencies.
• Undertaking regular visits to fostering households and completing statutory assessments, reviews, and monitoring activities.
• Ensuring children's voices are heard and that their views, wishes, and feelings are central to all planning and decision-making.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues and multi-agency professionals, including education, health, and voluntary sector partners.
• Responding to safeguarding concerns and promoting safe, nurturing environments for children.
• Completing clear, analytical, and timely recording, reports, and assessments in line with statutory requirements.
• Participating in the team's in-house fostering duty system and supporting carers when they need advice and guidance.
• Delivering training, workshops, and support groups for foster carers.
• Supporting fostering recruitment events, community engagement activities, and initiatives that help retain our valued foster carers.
• Contributing to the ongoing development and improvement of the fostering service.

About you

We're looking for someone who is passionate about child-centred practice and who shares our commitment to improving outcomes for children and young people.

You will be:

• A confident and motivated practitioner who enjoys working collaboratively with others.
• Curious, reflective, and committed to continuous learning and improvement.
• Passionate about supporting children, young people, and foster families.
• Able to balance competing demands while maintaining high standards of practice.
• A strong communicator with excellent relationship-building skills.

You must:

• Be a qualified Social Worker and registered with Social Work England.
• Have experience of working with children and families and an understanding of fostering practice.
• Be able to travel independently across Cambridgeshire and work from a variety of locations.
• Be willing to support the delivery of foster carer training and support groups, including occasional evening sessions.
• Be willing to attend recruitment events, fostering information evenings, and community engagement activities.
• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrate a commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.

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, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don't meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don't be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self‑organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers