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About the role
As the Team Manager for Fostering at Dorset Council, you will lead a committed and passionate team, directly contributing to the wellbeing of children and young people in care. You'll have the opportunity to make a tangible impact by shaping and developing fostering services to meet the evolving needs of children and families across Dorset. Your role will be key to ensuring the delivery of high-quality, safe, and stable homes for children and young people in care.
You'll benefit from working in an innovative environment where reflective practice and continuous professional development are strongly supported. As part of Dorset Council, you'll be empowered to make decisions, collaborate with a wide range of partners, and lead a team that shares your commitment to making life better for children. Alongside a competitive salary, we offer flexible working arrangements and an excellent benefits package to ensure your work-life balance.
What You Will Be Doing:
* Leading and managing a team of fostering professionals, ensuring high-quality care and support for children, young people, and their foster families.
* Overseeing the assessment and quality assurance of kinship carers, special guardians, and private foster carers.
* Developing and expanding fostering provision across Dorset to meet the current and future needs of children and young people.
* Working closely with fostering and kinship care communities, promoting resilience and offering consistent support and challenge.
* Providing a strength-based approach to fostering, using evidence-informed practice to guide decision-making.
* Ensuring that all assessments and reports for fostering placements are completed to a high standard and within required timescales.
* Tracking and monitoring the progress of assessments, the annual review process, and providing regular performance data to support forward planning.
* Collaborating with multi-agency partners to develop holistic care plans for children and young people with complex needs.
* Developing and leading restorative, strength-based practices within the fostering service.
* Managing and supporting the expansion of the supported lodgings service.
* Ensuring the recruitment, retention, and support of foster carers by developing services that meet their needs.
* Providing oversight of court work, ensuring timely submissions of statements/reports and tracking at performance meetings.
* Taking responsibility for ensuring the quality of information presented to fostering panels and that all processes are followed effectively.
About You:
* Experienced in fostering or children's services, with proven leadership skills in managing and developing teams.
* Knowledgeable in managing complex placements and providing high-quality care and support for children and young people.
* Strong communicator with the ability to build effective working relationships with foster carers, colleagues, and multi-agency partners.
* Skilled at using performance data to inform decisions, drive improvements, and enhance service delivery.
* Able to lead with a restorative, strength-based approach, empowering your team and supporting foster carers and kinship carers.
* Organised and able to manage multiple responsibilities, ensuring high standards and timely delivery of work.
* Registered with Social Work England and possess a relevant qualification in social work.
* Full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle are essential due to the significant travel requirement of the role.
Further Information
For further information about this role, please contact Lisa Wilms, Service Manager - Fostering, on [email protected]
This is a full-time role at 37 hours per week.
This post requires significant travel. You must have a vehicle (or transport we deem suitable) available for use as needed.
This post involves working with children and/or vulnerable adults and/or having access to significant information about them. It will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check. See our policy on the employment of ex-offenders.
You must:
* Have a degree in social work or equivalent.
* Be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
* Be able to fulfil the travel requirements of the post.
About Us
We're passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.
At Dorset Council we:
* Provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents.
* Have ambitious aspirations.
* Are excited about our future.
* Care about Dorset and all the people who live here.
* Know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success.
You will:
* Have access to a range of employee benefits.
* Be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed.
* Have access to a range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression.
We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation.
We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. We have a commitment to equality and welcome applications from everyone.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.
We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.
We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours. We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.
This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.
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