Kinship Assessment Team Manager – PO16: £51,802 - £54,965
Full time - 37 hours per week
Would you like to work for an ‘Outstanding’ local authority – one with an established management team, committed to developing excellent practice and ensuring that our staff receive the best support we can offer?
There has never been a more exciting time to join our service: alongside making a difference to the lives of individuals and families, we have adopted exciting new strengths-based approaches and are passionate about delivering continuous service improvement.
We are committed to driving forward the Kinship Strategy and championing the Family First Agenda with a focus on identifying and assessing the child’s wider network to determine suitability for care, with specific focus on Kinship foster care or Special Guardianship.
The successful applicant will be responsible for managing the Kinship Assessment Team, requiring a positive attitude and a focus on quality and analytical practice, which evidences safe placements within children’s networks. The Kinship Assessment Team completes a variety of assessments within the kinship pathway, including Initial Enquiries, Viability assessments, Kinship fostering assessments (currently Form C) and SGO assessments through both private and public law.
The Kinship assessment team works closely and cooperatively with colleagues within the Kinship support team and Mainstream fostering teams as well as with Social Workers and managers from other Children’s Services. The work is interesting, often complex and challenging but is crucial to achieving placement stability and permanence for our children. Our team is very experienced, highly supportive, friendly and passionate about what we do.
The fostering service has a systemic practice approach, supporting our foster carers to parent therapeutically. We put families first and work to maintain children within their extended family where possible, supporting the Kinship Strategy.
Our brilliant practitioners are at the heart of our ambitious approach to improve outcomes for children and families in Telford and Wrekin: that’s why from tailored in-house training to the West Midlands Teaching Partnership, we will ensure that you have access to the best development opportunities.
We value our practitioners and offer staff rewards and plenty of opportunities for personal development and career progression including:
* Free on-site parking
* Full reimbursement of your annual Social Work England registration fee
* Relocation allowance
* Flexible and mobile working policy - we are well adapted to a hybrid model of working which includes a combination of time spent in the office and at home – our approach is to promote greater level of flexible working around personal and family commitments
* Private lettings are available from ‘Nuplace’ who give priority to social work professionals
* Staff benefits and discounts including salary sacrifice schemes
* Free access to our employee assistance programme and confidential counselling
Here at Telford and Wrekin Council, we have been judged to be outstanding overall in terms of effectiveness (the only Authority in the West Midlands with this judgement) for the second time! Here’s just some of the great things Ofsted had to say when they visited us in April 2024:
* Children and families in Telford and Wrekin continue to experience exceptional social work practice when they are in care and as care leavers.
* Participation is a real strength and children’s and families’ involvement is threaded throughout service developments.
* Corporate parenting is a strength in Telford and Wrekin.
* The stability of the experienced workforce creates the perfect environment to benefit children and care leavers. As a result, social workers maintain relationships with children who know them over many years, which contributes to children’s feeling of belonging.
* Staff enjoy working in an environment where senior leaders are visible, and they feel valued.
* Management oversight is strong
* SGO assessments are thorough
* The quality of fostering assessments is strong
* There is a strong learning culture within children’s services
As an example, one of our Team Managers said: “I have been offered a broad array of training opportunities, including specialised supervision training with the Centre for Systemic Practice. I think it would be fair to say that my experience certainly demonstrates that Telford and Wrekin are keen to encourage their Social Workers to develop their practice and career. It is a Local Authority which likes to grow its own.”
If you share our passion for making a difference, we would be delighted if you joined us.
For further information on the role please click on the links below to view the job description and person specification.
We are committed to equality and diversity. Posts working with children or vulnerable groups will be subject to an appropriate criminal records check.
If you think you can meet the challenge and would like to find out more about this role, please contact us by emailing Kelly.Burgess@telford.gov.uk.
Please note that interviews will be held on an ongoing basis, when suitable applications are received. If you are interested in applying, we recommend that you apply as soon as possible as we may close the vacancy early if suitable candidates are appointed. For more information about working for Telford & Wrekin Social Care, please view our recruitment page: https://www.telford.gov.uk/cscr.
Please click on the links below to view the job description and person specification.
At Telford & Wrekin Council, we know that having a diverse workforce is key to providing the best possible services to our community. We celebrate having a diverse and inclusive culture where people are able to be themselves at work, and everyone has a voice.
Posts working with children or vulnerable groups will be subject to an appropriate criminal records check. It is an offence to apply for a role that involves engaging in regulated activity with children and adults in vulnerable circumstances if you are barred from working with one or both of these groups.
A CV template is available if you do not already have a CV.
Attached documents
4025 Team Manager CSFS1.pdf
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