There has never been a more exciting time to join Wirral Council. We’ve got ambitious targets to meet and to achieve everything we have promised to our residents, we need people who are ready to deliver the very best for our communities and show how they can BeTheDifference. Our vision is to secure the best possible future for our residents, defined by the community prosperity we create and supported by our excellent people and services. If you strive to BeTheDifference and want to be at the heart of our change and improvement journey, then this could be the perfect job for you. The fostering service is committed to the aims of meeting the placement needs of current and future children looked after and care leavers. We are committed to supporting positive outcomes through understanding the needs of our children looked after and care leaver population, including current provision and identifying measures that need to be put in place to ensure that there is an appropriate range of provision to meet future projected need. In our commitment of permanence and our ambition to find the right placement for children looked after we aim to reduce the number of placements out of the borough and in residential care. We strongly believe that family-based care in the child or young person's community is usually the right option for them, whether that is with a special guardian, foster carers, or kinship person/people and ultimately improves outcomes for our children and young people. We will meet placement sufficiency needs by promoting family-based care wherever possible to meet the needs of the Wirral children looked after profile and our vision for children and young people in the Borough. The fostering service main responsibilities are: Recruitment of Foster Carers Assessment and Support of Family and Friends Foster Carers Pre-approval training of Foster Carers Assessment and approval of Foster Carers Attracting and retaining Foster Carers Post Approval Training Supervision & support of Foster Carers Delivery of the Mockingbird programme Consultation and communication with Foster Carers Identifying placements for children, including emergency and temporary placements Promoting children's health, emotional development, education and leisure opportunities Approving, reviewing and terminating approvals of foster carers through the function of a fostering panel This role will be for an Independent Fostering Panel member. Wirral Council hold approximately 40 panels each year. Members sit approximately once a month. Panels are held on a Thursday at Birkenhead town hall. Fees are £120 per day. this fee includes reading and preparation time This post requires a DBS check. The Safer Recruitment & Employment Policy and the Disclosures for Recruitment Procedure can be found at : https://www.wirral.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/job-vacancies/safer-recruitment-and-employment If you’re already a Wirral Council employee, and as part of our Talent Strategy, we’re committed to strengthening opportunities for our people to learn, grow, progress and thrive. For many of you, this may be preparing and applying for your next role with us, and we're passionate about ensuring you feel supported throughout your internal recruitment experience. Please get in touch if you want to know more about some of the ways in which we could support you by emailing recruitmentwirral.gov.uk If you are a Wirral resident, are unemployed or out of work, and require help with your application, please contact Involve Northwest’s employment and skills team on infoinvolvenorthwest.org.uk or contact 0151 644 4500 or 0151 652 4349. Please note that in accordance with the Council’s policy, employees who are in a formal redeployment situation will be considered in the first instance for all vacancies. It is Council policy not to re-appoint any employee who has left under the terms of the Council's Early Voluntary Retirement (EVR) scheme or who have left with a voluntary severance (VS) package, unless in exceptional circumstances. Applications will be accepted until midnight on the closing date. We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications. Applications can only be accepted through the Jobs page following registration. Forms received via the post will not be processed. All applicants invited to interview must evidence their right to work in the UK. Details of required documents can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of the Jobs page. The job description and other supporting documents will not be accessible once the vacancy closing date has passed so if a copy is required you should download it now. We do not accept applications or CV’s from recruitment agencies, unless otherwise stated. Therefore, any candidates submitted via a recruitment agency will not be considered for this role.