The Role

Would you like the opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of children, young people and their families?

If yes, we have the perfect role for you!

Our Fostering and Kinship Service is looking to recruit social workers to join our committed staff in the Kinship Team. You will be energetic, inspirational, passionate and resilient about achieving positive outcomes for the children and young people that require a service from our team.

Our goals and visions

Here in Wandsworth, we are on an exciting journey of transformation. We have developed our Practice Model and are the first Local Authority in London to implement the Family Safeguarding Model.

Our goals and vision are all about keeping families together where it is safe to do so. We work with each family’s strengths to help them meet the challenges they face alongside supporting our practitioners to do the transformational work needed to reduce or prevent the need for children to be looked after by the local authority as a permanent plan. When families are referred to our team, we want them to experience a quality and timely assessment where we develop positive relationships with those family members we are assessing and supporting.

About the role

As a social worker in the Kinship Team, you will be responsible for assessing Kinship carers and Special Guardians during care proceedings and offering ongoing support to approved Kinship carers and Special Guardians. You will be working collaboratively with your colleagues across the department and with partners to deliver high-quality and responsive social work to Kinship carers and Special Guardians. We value each staff member in the service and want each and every one to be a leader and champion of exemplary practice.

To be shortlisted your application and personal statement (no longer than 2 sides of A4) will clearly evidence:

• Having a social work qualification and current registration with Social Work England
• Knowledge and interest in Special Guardianship and Connected Persons
• Excellent written, verbal, communication and analytical skills as well as an ability to build relationships with practitioners, families and partners.
• Enthusiasm and tenacity to shape and develop our work with Kinship carers

Contact details

If you would like to have an informal chat about the role, please contact Trudy Eastwood by email at trudy.eastwood@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

• Close date: 11:59pm on Sunday 29th May 2022
• Shortlisting date: week commencing 30th May 2022
• Interview date/s: week commencing 6th June 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.

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.

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 application must highlight your knowledge, skills and experience listed in the Job Profile located at the bottom of the advert.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils