Advanced Practitioner for Special Guardianship Support Team and Social Work Private Fostering Lead (Carer Support Team)

The Carer Support Team in Barnet provides support to Special Guardian’s once a Special Guardianship Order is granted, assesses and provides support to Private Foster Carers, adhering to statutory guidelines in supporting children within Private fostering arrangements, and provides life story work for all Special Guardianship children. The Social Work Private Fostering Lead is a specialist social work role that predominantly involves assessing and supporting Private Foster Carers and vulnerable children within these arrangements.  Regular visits need to be undertaken to children within the statutory guidelines, and the role involves working closely with other agencies within the child’s network. This role also involves representing Barnet within the North London Fostering and Permanence Consortium, attending monthly consortium meetings and engaging with external agencies and communities to raise awareness about private fostering arrangements. 

The Private Fostering Social Work Lead will have a mixed caseload including Special Guardianship support cases. These involve undertaking and reviewing support assessments of families in need, coordinating therapies for children via the Adoption Support Fund, implementing life story work, and linking with the Special Guardianship Contact Lead for support around contact. This role involves working closely with partner agencies such as Grandparents Plus and The Post Adoption Centre.

You will have:

• In depth knowledge and understanding of the legislative framework and polices in relation to safeguarding children, understanding and experience of special guardianship & an understanding of the private fostering regulations.
• Excellent written skills, particularly in writing assessments and analysing family relationships, whilst also considering complex risk factors.
• A sound understanding of safeguarding thresholds, an ability to identify safeguarding concerns & subsequently referring cases into MASH. 
• An understanding of therapeutic interventions and the ability to make recommendations about therapeutic inputs for children.
• Highly competent oral communication liaising with families, professionals and able to provide clear, evidence based recommendations.
• Proven experience in either Kinship, Fostering or Private Fostering.
• An ability to work in a multi-agency way, linking with and contributing to, both the Private Fostering and Special Guardianship Consortium.
• Innovative and positive engagement with families, passion for delivery of high quality services and interventions to vulnerable children in partnership with a wide range of agencies.
• The skills and ability to practice at a higher level which includes deputising for the line manager in circumstances where the line manager is not available.
• The ability to demonstrate expert and effective practice in complex situations and be able to assess and manage higher levels of risk on their own and that of other less experienced social workers. 
• The skills to support less experienced social workers and be assessors for NQSWs in the teams in their Assessed and Supported Year in Employment.

Our Offer to you:

• A competitive salary including options to tailor this based on your needs and preferences which we are happy to discuss with you
• Opportunities for career progression in our social work hierarchy structure (including Advanced Practitioners, Assistant Heads of Service and Heads of Service and beyond)
• 30 days annual leave + Bank Holidays from the start of your employment
• Benefits package including access to local government pension scheme, pool cars and more.
• A brand-new purpose built and modern office based 5 minutes’ walk from Colindale tube station and free parking!

*We appreciate that not all employees want the same rewards and benefits package; In addition to a comprehensive suite of employee benefits, this salary includes a Recruitment and Retention supplement of 15% and an additional 17% of base salary if you opt for a lower cost pension scheme. You are advised to seek independent financial advice before you take up this flexible option. We would be happy to discuss this with you at the interview process.

How to apply

Read the job description and person specification before clicking ‘Apply’ to commence the online application form. Should you have any questions about the role, please email Samantha Speke samantha.speke@barnet.gov.uk.  Interviews are due to be conducted the week commencing Monday 17th of April.

Barnet Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Barnet operates stringent safer recruitment procedures.

To deliver Barnet Council’s commitment to equality of opportunity in the provision of services, all staff are expected to promote equality in the workplace and in the services the Council delivers. As such we value diversity and welcome applications from all backgrounds including from the LGBT+ community, genders, ages, disabilities, faiths/beliefs and candidates from Black, Asian, and ethnic minority backgrounds. For further information, please read our equality statement.

Barnet Council embraces all forms of flexible working (including part-time, compressed hours, and remote working) and is committed to offering employees a healthy work-life balance. Candidates are encouraged to talk about relevant requirements and preferences at interview. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.

Barnet Council is a Disability Confident Committed Employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

All posts with the council are subject to a probationary period of six months, during which time you will be required to demonstrate to the council satisfaction your suitability for the position in which you will be employed.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close vacancies before the stated closing date if sufficient number of applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.

Please ensure you regularly check the email account (including JUNK MAIL folders) that you use to submit your application, as any further communication regarding your application will be sent electronically. Should you not hear from us within four working weeks of the closing date for this post, then regretfully in this instance, you have not been shortlisted.