Social Work Assistant - Fostering

Role Responsibility

At Kent County Council, we’re understandably proud of our Fostering Service. Our service’s paramount concerns are the safeguarding of children and young people in foster care, their stability within placement and support to reach their individual potential.  In order to achieve this we supervise and support foster carers caring for children and young people within foster families.  These children and young people can present with a wide range of complex needs and there are times where both the foster carers and the children / young people need extra 1:1 support.

We’re now looking for a Social Work Assistant to join the West Kent Fostering Support Team, working under the Fostering Social Workers and Team Manager.  The role will consist of working directly with foster carers, children and young people in the community.  It will require a person experienced in working with children and an understanding of the ways in which trauma can impact on a child’s development and behaviour. This role will offer plenty of opportunities to undertake training while working in partnership with  foster carers, multidisciplinary colleagues and with other agencies, including the voluntary sector.  It will require an ability to be organised and establish and maintain clear communication around work undertaken and outcomes.  It will also require working within the lone worker policy.

This post will require an understanding of resilience and an ability to support this within the carers, children and young people, drawing on community resources in order to achieve the most positive outcomes.

The successful applicant will possess good communication skills, both orally & written and be computer literate. They will have the ability to prioritise workload and to work effectively on their own initiative as well as part of a team. They will be an effective planer and posses good organisational skills, with an ability to demonstrate a sensitive, tactful and empathetic response to children, young people and foster carers. They will have knowledge of the key policies, legislation and guidance underpinning the provision of services to children, young people and foster carers, in addition to awareness of equal opportunities issues.

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

Contact Details

For further information on this role please contact Susan Dunkin on 03000 415399

About the Company

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 and faiths, 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.