Empower Fostering are seeking passionate and suitably qualified members for our Fostering Panel. We seek a range of diverse individuals from all backgrounds to help us make important decisions about Fostering Recruitment, Assessments and Foster Carer Reviews. You will be part of a small Panel team within a family run IFA; providing independent oversight on suitability to foster and reviews of existing Foster Carers. Panel meetings happen throughout the year, based at our offices in Taunton. Panels are paid at £200 for a half day (9.30am – 1.00pm) and £250 for a full day (9.30am – 3.30pm) About you Ideally you will have some professional or lived experience of children being placed outside of their birth family; or a related field such as education, child protection or health. You will have an excellent standard of written and spoken English and be able to effectively & efficiently read reports and draw both questions & conclusions from them. Listening and communication are vital for the role, as is the ability to discuss the reports presented in a professional manner within Panel Meetings; ensuring that decisions made are balanced, evidence based and informed. We are particularly keen to hear from applicants from minority backgrounds, to ensure that our panel reflects the diverse nature of our Foster Carers and the young people placed with them. Therefore, we welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, members of the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities and those without professional qualifications, but who have appropriate lived experiences for the role. Empower Fostering is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. We extend this expectation to all our employees, including those on casual contracts. Therefore, all successful applicants will be subject to relevant checks including DBS This role is subject to the successful applicant having an enhanced DBS check for child and adult workforce with barred list checks. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare any convictions, cautions, reprimands, and final warnings that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013 & 2023). This post is only available to applicants aged over 21 as permitted under the Equality Act 2010. We do not offer sponsorship. Requirements Full UK Driving Licence Access to a computer to receive panel documentation