The Role

12 month Fixed-Term Contract/Secondment Opportunity, Family Finding Social Worker.

All internal applicants for this as a secondment must seek permission from their current line manager before applying. Failure to do so may result in the secondment not being authorised.

Here in Wandsworth, ensuring that children and young people feel settled and have a sense of belonging is a priority.  For those that are unable to reside within their families, we want them to achieve permanency within the right home, as soon as possible.

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced and creative social worker to join the permanency team, as the department’s Family Finding Social Worker for permanent fostering. This is a 12-month fixed-term opportunity to cover maternity leave.

The role will find you working alongside children and young people, their foster families, and the support networks around them, to secure permanency and stability for them within permanent foster placements.  You will be responsible for undertaking formal matching, while also supporting social workers around placement searches.  You will undertake analytical matching assessments, creative direct work to gather children and young people’s wishes and feelings, and will present your findings and recommendations to senior leaders.

Who we are looking for: you will be a confident and creative social worker with experience of working alongside children residing outside their families. You will be confident in your direct work skills with children and young people, and working in partnership with professional networks.  You will have strong assessment and writing skills, and be confident in having challenging conversations with foster carers about their ability to care for children and young people into the future.  You will also be self-motivated as you will be working in a small but efficient team that has high standards for achieving permanency for children in a timely way.

At Wandsworth, we particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams, including Black, Asian and Ethnic minority communities. We understand the value of what a diverse workforce brings to our local authority and therefore, strongly encouraging candidates from these backgrounds to apply to this position.

Contact details

For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Beth Biederman, Permanency Champion Manager on 07974586535 or at beth.biederman@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

Benefits

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working including, working from home, and other arrangements. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.

We also offer a generous holiday allowance of 39 paid days (pro rata) including bank holidays and a wide range of learning and development opportunities. In addition, we offer a comprehensive range of staff benefits such as membership of the Local Government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, new technology scheme, interest-free loans on annual travel cards, discounts with many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments.

Indicative Recruitment Timeline

• Closing Date: 11:59pm on Sunday 13th November 2022
• Shortlisting Date: week commencing 14th November 2022
• Interview Date: week commencing 21st November 2022

Useful Information: The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Please note that the advertised dates for interviews may change due to the current Covid-19 situation. If they do, we will let you know as soon as possible. Your health and wellbeing is our top priority. Should you become unwell due to Covid-19 during the recruitment process we would very much appreciate receiving an update from you as soon as possible.

Equality Statement

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

Important Information

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

How to apply?

To be considered for interview your CV and supporting statement (no longer than 2 sides of a4) must highlight your knowledge, skills and experience listed in the Job Profile located at the bottom of the advert.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils