Fostering Senior Practitioner

Role Responsibility

The Kent Kinship Assessment Service  is  recruiting  to the  position of  senior  social  worker within  Kinship Assessment  team  2. This is one  of three  kinship assessment  teams established  in  April 2024 .

You will be a motivated practitioner, passionate about children’s  wellbeing  within kinship care and  fostering .You will demonstrate  strong interpersonal skills and proven experience in completing  high quality, evidence based  and analytical assessments with adults and children within a  family setting .  

As well as  completing  Kinship  Foster  Carer  assessments, you will  deliver preparatory training for  kinship carers; completing Special Guardianship Assessments; Child Arrangement Order assessments and viability assessments. You will also attend fostering panels  and  court  hearings which  will require professional and  confident presentation skills .

Part of  the  role  will be to assess, support and supervise Kinship  foster  Carers, working collaboratively with the team around the child to achieve the very best outcomes. You will need to show that you have a  thorough understanding  of child  focused  social work , professional  experience  working  with families  and  that  you are  highly organised and able to work  to very tight deadlines.

You will be expected to undertake  complex assessment work, particularly with kinship  carers  where there might be higher levels of risk and vulnerability.   You will develop areas of specialist practice and be a role model and mentor for less experienced staff, including sharing knowledge and experience through leading Practice Meetings and completing joint visits where required.   On occasion you will  deputise for the Team Manager delivering  clearly defined tasks, including quality assurance of  reports and joining  fostering panel membership.

The role includes evening and weekend work  and  requires a flexible approach .This  role  involves  travel outside  Kent - it is  essential  that  you can  travel in a timely manner . 

You should have a good understanding of the Fostering Regulations, National Minimum Standards and the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations .

This is a unique opportunity to be joining a team whose goals are to improve the outcomes of children by  completing thorough kinship assessments along with preparation courses for carers to equip them with the knowledge and skills to care for  children and  promote  their identity .

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service and to registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.

Interview date at Kroner House, Ashford on Friday 25th October

Contact Details

For an informal discussion about the post, please contact Mim Nichols  (Team Manager, Kinship Assessment  Team 2  Kroner  House) via mim.nichols@kent.gov.uk

About the Company

Work that works for you and us - let’s talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.