As a Family Worker within the Fostering Service you will provide a range of support to children and young people in care and under Special Guardianship. You will support children and young people to remain in their fostering and Special Guardian families as much as possible through a range of creative interventions. You will undertake 1:1 and relationship‑based work with children and young people. This is an exciting role, with additional training provided including Life Story Work, therapeutic parenting and trauma‑informed support. This role also includes focusing on family finding and thoughtful matching for children who are moving homes. The post will be flexible and reflect a consistent approach to working with families across Children’s Services, so the specific duties may vary depending on the service area.
What You Can Expect To Be Doing
- Dedicated and dependable family worker with a history of working with children and young people
- Support Foster Carers, Special Guardians, Children in Care, children under Special Guardianship and Care Leavers across Dorset, including outside of the County
- Manage a caseload of young people and carers, focusing on family finding
- Liaise closely with the team to create the most appropriate pathway, stepping stone to independence for young people, while ensuring that moves are young‑person focused
- Prevent immediate home endings for children in care, care leavers and children under Special Guardianship within their homes
- Provide reliable support to foster carers, Special Guardians and children, including occasional birth children of foster carers
- Have a passion for children and young people, excellent organisational and communication skills and the ability to analyse situations accurately and produce detailed written reports
- Safeguard children and young people and promote their protection from harm regardless of any needs or circumstances
- Escalate safeguarding concerns appropriately through the relevant designated manager
- Contribute positively to and deliver within a multi‑professional team setting to enable children to thrive within their kinship or mainstream families
- Develop meaningful relationships and work with children, young people, parents/carers and a range of professionals to meet overall outcomes
- Carry out direct work with young people and their carers to address family conflict, family breakdown and behaviour issues in their homes
- Support children and young people in a strength‑based approach with a therapeutic and trauma‑informed lens
- Escort, supervise or transport children when required as part of planned support
- Support duty matters
- Discuss any expenditure proposals to seek agreement with the budget holder
What’s In It For You
- Support Dorset’s Foster Carers and Special Guardians to achieve great outcomes for the children and young people they care for
- Be well supported by the Fostering Team and feel a strong ethos of partnership working, passion and creativity
- Support the Team Manager in shaping the service to promote positive outcomes for children
- Receive monthly, reflective supervision to develop your skills for supporting carers to use a therapeutic approach with young people
- Access to full and dynamic training opportunities and an induction programme
- Access 1:1 support from advanced practitioners in the team
- Access to Dorset’s staff wellbeing service
- Support with your career progression in Dorset Council
Context Of Work
- Keep children and young people at the heart of our support
- Work as part of a team to provide a range of high‑quality loving homes for children in care and Special Guardianship arrangements
- Support carers to be resilient, developing a supportive network within the fostering community
- Provide carers with an appropriate balance of support and challenge and reflection
- Be creative in ensuring that children and young people can remain living within their communities and support networks where possible
Hybrid working is appropriate but office presence is required at least once per week to enhance collaborative working and colleague partnership.
If more information about this role is needed, please contact Catherine Moore, Kinship Support Team Manager, Fostering Service at (email protected).
This post requires significant travel. You must have a vehicle (or transport we deem suitable) available for use as needed.
This Post Involves
- Working with children
- Working with vulnerable adults
- Having access to significant information about them
It will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check. See our policy on the employment of ex‑offenders.
See our policy on safeguarding children and young people.
This role is UK‑based, and we will need to confirm your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.
We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation where different skills, perspectives, and backgrounds strengthen the council and the communities we serve. We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. If you declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role, we will offer you an interview. We also want our recruitment process to be accessible; if you need any reasonable adjustments, just let us know on your application.
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