Careers in Fostering and Adoption

Welcome to the home of one of Wales’s leading independent fostering agencies. Family Fostering Partners was founded in 2015 with the aim of building a fostering agency that places the children, young people, and the foster families we work with at the heart of everything we do.

 

Despite being born in Wales, Family Fostering Partners’ approach, expertise and ever-growing knowledge has led us to establish a number of teams working across various locations. Starting out in Carmarthenshire, we now cover; Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath and Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Torfaen and Vale of Glamorgan. As well as across the border; Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. Our team has worked tirelessly over the years to create an agency that allows anyone involved, be they staff or carers, to feel like part of the family.

Working With Family Fostering Partners

Not only do we specialise in recruiting and training foster carers to look after the individuals who become part of our family, we also pride ourselves on the excellent team we operate within as an agency. Being part of the Family Fostering team is the perfect role for fulfilling your dream career in fostering. Ideally, any posting with us welcomes an individual who has a background within a fostering team or and independent fostering agency. It is of high importance the children and families we work with are consistently aided in reaching their potential. In return we offer you:

• training opportunities
• flexibility to work from home where applicable
• fantastic support from managers
• a friendly, approachable, relatable team
• fun team building activity days
• regular get togethers with the team over lunch

Fostering Career - Qualities We Look For

We have a number of exciting new opportunities to join our Family Fostering Partners team. When considering whether to embark in a career within the fostering sector, it is always important to assess whether you have the characteristics and skillset required for excelling in the role.  You’ll share our commitment to delivering high quality services for children and young people, as well as supporting foster parents to do so too. A Family Fostering Partners team member is supportive, patient, communicative, open, compassionate, proactive, professional, fast thinking, understanding, non-judgemental to name a few.

 

Family Fostering Partners recognise that our team do amazing things every day. We are passionate about what we do, strongly believing in equal opportunities and are committed to developing people’s potential. If what you have read so far sounds of interest, we invite you to click on one of the roles below to start your journey. You will be joining a leading Independent Fostering Agency committed to providing caring families to children and young people who need them the most. From social work to management roles, we can offer you a challenging and rewarding career that really makes a difference. 

 

 

 

Family Fostering Partners Job Description: Link Worker

 

 

Job Title:	Link Worker
Based at:	Cross Hands Office – with opportunities for hybrid working.
Reports to:	Deputy Fostering Manager
Job Type	Full-Time – 37 hours a week
Salary:	Up to £35,600 - depending on experience
Closing Date for applications	29th April, 2024

 

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

• To provide and deliver professional support and supervision to Foster Parents.
• To assist in the matching of situable placements for Family Fostering Partners’ approved Foster Parents.

 

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

General

• To participate in professional supervision and development as and when required by the Deputy Fostering Manager, in line with the Family Fostering Partners’ Supervision Agreement.
• To work within the overall policies and procedures of Family Fostering Partners and its administrative and management processes, and to contribute towards the development of these with the objective of constantly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the agency’s work.
• Maintain and develop current personal knowledge regarding the regulatory and good practice environment.
• To ensure continued professional development by attending training courses as identified, and in agreement with the Deputy Fostering Manager.

 

Supporting and Supervising Foster Parents

To effectively supervise and support Foster Parents by:

• Working with foster parents through regular supervision, in accordance with Family Fostering Partners policies and procedures, to make sure they fully understand their role,
• Identifying and capturing Foster Parent’s development needs on a personal development plan, and providing appropriate organizational, professional, and personal support to ensure Foster Parents have the right skills and competencies to support children and young people.
• Ensuring Foster Parents respond to the supervision process and benefit from the supervision provided
• Undertaking additional support visits and/or other forms of contact as necessary and considering the needs of all family members.
• Supporting Foster Parents at all professional meetings.
• Participating in the Family Fostering Partners Out of Hours Rota
• Supporting Foster Parents in maintaining records as required by Family Fostering Partners.
• Contributing to the review, development, and performance of Foster Parents.
• Ensuring that placements are made and sustained in accordance with a child’s Care and Placement Plan and Family Fostering Partners’ policies and procedures.
• To bring to the attention of the Deputy Fostering Manager any Foster Parent who does not meet the performance criteria required and to work under the direction of the Fostering Manager to develop and implement an action plan to improve the Foster Parent’s performance.
• To bring to the immediate attention of the Deputy Fostering Manager any child protection or safeguarding concerns, in line with Safeguarding Policy and Procedures of the Local Authority and of Family Fostering Partners.

 

Training of Foster Parents

To support the continued development of Foster Parents by:

• Completing their induction into the fostering service. This includes helping them to draw up a Personal Development Plan identifying learning activities.
• Using supervision to actively monitor learning, and develop ongoing training plans for their continuous professional development, providing support to enable Foster Parent to evidence their levels of competency.
• Facilitating and supporting post-approval training as required. This may include providing one to one training and/or co-facilitating group training.
• Ensuring that training is appropriate to the fostering task.
• Promoting their attendance at post-approval training, Foster Parent Support Groups, and other events both in person and online, to help Foster Parents meet their contractual obligations.

 

Recruitment of Foster Parents

To assist in the recruitment of new Foster Parents by:

• Promoting Family Fostering Partners through formal and informal methods.
• Assisting in information sharing days and events.

 

Children in Placement

To work with the children placed with our foster families, ensuring that they feel safe and protected and feel that their views are heard effectively, by such means as:

• Professionally befriending them and being a ‘safe person’. It is the expectation that Link workers see and speak to children alone at least every third visit to the fostering household.
• Supporting them as necessary in relation to their care needs, including supporting them to access advocacy services and their Local Authority Social Worker if necessary.
• Helping to secure access to services, by, where appropriate, negotiating and challenging other professionals and organizations to provide the help required.
• Providing them with an age-appropriate copy of the Family Fostering Partners Children’s Guide and reading it through with them if appropriate. Ensuring they are aware of the contents and intent of the Children’s Guide.
• If appropriate, to provide one to one work with children. This may include life story work or preparation for adoption.
• To support and assist in facilitating young people/children’s Forums/activities as part of Family Fostering Partners ongoing development in involving children in their service delivery.
• To bring to the immediate attention of the Deputy Fostering Manager, or any other appropriate authority, any matters judged necessary for example, child protection or whistleblowing.

 

Finding and Supporting Placements

To ensure that Family Fostering Partners Parents remain active and focused by:

• Participating in the process of ‘matching’ children with Foster Parents in accordance with the terms of the Foster Parents’ approval and with the agency policy.
• Obtaining contractual paperwork and CLA documentation from placing Local Authorities in good time for necessary administration, Foster Parent preparation, support, and supervision.
• Working with Local Authority representatives to ensure they meet their obligations regarding children in placement by promoting effective working relationships.
• Ensuring effective and proper Family Fostering Partners representation at CLA Reviews and at other meetings whenever a presence is appropriate.
• Providing a service which enables children and young people in placement to reach their full potential.
• Assisting young people leaving care to be successful in their adult lives by supporting Local Authorities to develop support plans and links with local organisations
• Assisting in the provision of timely and complete Foster Parent Reviews and other documentation required by the Panel.

 

Growing the Organisation

To promote the reputation and services of Family Fostering Partners’ by:

• Professionally representing the agency in all direct contacts with Local Authority Social Services and any other relevant
• Contributing to the development of promotional and marketing material.
• If required, positively representing Family Fostering Partners at local and national events and forums.
• Assisting in preparation and participation to any regulatory inspections carried out by CIW.

 

Link Worker – Person Specification
Educated to degree level in a subject relevant to the role.	Essential
As part of this role, you will be required to travel to visit foster parents and need to be a car driver and owner.	Essential
Good knowledge and understanding of childcare legislation, regulation, and guidance.	Essential
Excellent understanding of children’s safeguarding needs.	Essential
Good knowledge of social care procedures and working practices, including commitment to promoting equal opportunities and diversity.	Essential
Good written and verbal communication skills	Essential
Ability to challenge and hold foster parents to account for unsafe or concerning behaviour, and an ability to practice in a way that can enhance professional reflection and create change.	Essential
Ability to work in partnership with children, foster parents, colleagues, other professionals, local authorities, and birth family members, as part of the team around the child, to ensure that the children and young people in our care reach their full potential.	Essential
Ability to work with Foster Parents to support children’s development based on individual need, underpinned by therapeutic parenting strategies appropriate to the child and their life experiences.	Essential
Good time management and organisational skills.	Essential
Ability to be reflective of own practice and areas for development	Essential
Able to respond flexibly to the demands of the post and prioritise and meet deadlines.	Essential
Good computer literacy skills and the ability to confidently use virtual mediums to engage with foster parents and children and to deliver foster parent supervision/meetings, when required.	Essential
Understanding responsibilities in protecting your own health, safety, and wellbeing, and that of your colleagues and others.	Essential

 

 

Family Fostering Partners is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults, and expects all staff and post holders to share this commitment.

This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Family Fostering Partners values equality and diversity across our workforce and aims to ensure our staff community is reflective of the diversity of the children and young people within our care. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation, or age.

 

 

For more information, or for an informal discuss on the role, please email info@familyfosteringpartners.co.uk