Foster Panel Member
Gloucester
This is a Gloucestershire County Council job.
- Job Title: Foster Panel Member
- Job Location: Shire Hall, Block 6
- Salary: £175 per panel
- Hours per Week: 37.00
- Contract Type: Casual
- Closing Date: 03/11/2024
- Job Requisition Number: 6370
- This post is not open to job share
Fostering Panel Member
Gloucestershire County Council is currently seeking independent panel members for its fostering panel. Gloucestershire has a large fostering service and is significantly investing in its fostering provision in order to increase the number of looked after children placed with in-house foster carers.
As a member of the fostering panel central list you will have a vital role in this mission. The panel member role helps to ensure that our children have homes with foster carers who can provide the love and care that a child needs, and it is this ideal that Gloucestershire’s fostering service strives to achieve.
Remuneration: £175 per full day panel inclusive of all preparation and post panel work. Mileage will be considered within a 150-mile radius and parking charges for attendance at a panel / away day. Lunch is provided.
About us
Right child, right support, right time, every time
We are working together to support families and communities to give every child the best chance of a happy and rewarding life, especially those who need more help.
Gloucestershire offers a range of opportunities to develop your career, supported by a phenomenal Social Work Academy offer, a developing systemic practice methodology, an ambitious leadership team and an award-winning workforce.
Gloucestershire Children’s Services are improving. Our latest Ofsted inspection (February 2022) identified that:
‘Significant progress has been made in many areas of Gloucestershire’s children’s services… significant financial investment and the backing of political leaders, has led to improved services that are now more effective in meeting the needs of children and families’.
We are a local authority adopting, and training all colleagues in, systemic social work practice. If you would like to be part of an authority that takes a relational approach to working with families and focuses on what needs to change in the system around a child and family to enable children to thrive, then consider a role with GCC.
About You
We are ideally looking for applicants with specialist knowledge of one or more of the following areas:
-
Police/Youth Offending
-
Housing
-
Disability / Welfare rights
We welcome applications from underrepresented groups and will consider applicants with other relevant experience outside of those areas listed above.
We are seeking a diverse range of individuals from all backgrounds to help us make important decisions about fostering and kinship approvals and long-term matches.
The panel considers fostering and kinship approvals and long-term matches. The panel currently meets in person, on average three to four times a month on Tuesdays from 9am to 5pm, at Shire Hall in Gloucester. There are additional panel meetings when required on some Fridays from 9am to 5pm. The suitable candidate needs to be available to meet this time commitment and be able to travel to Gloucester to attend in-person panel meetings.
We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Gloucestershire’s diverse communities.
Our promise to you is that we will provide an inclusive and supportive working environment that enables you to bring your whole self to work.
About The Role
Panel members read and review fostering assessments (and other documents as required) and contribute to discussions about them. Panel members provide written feedback on the items read prior to attendance at each fostering panel. Panel members must also be able to give feedback about the items heard at fostering panel on the day and feel comfortable with making a recommendation about each individual item heard. Panel members are expected to understand and adhere to expectations around record keeping and confidentiality. Listening and communication are vital for the role, as is the ability to discuss the reports presented in a professional manner within Panel Meetings; ensuring that decisions made are balanced, evidence based and informed.
Panel work is very flexible and panel members can attend when they are available – there is an expectation that panel members would attend at least one panel every two months. Panel members are supported to engage in an induction, complete relevant Safeguarding training (paid for undertaking), attend panel away days (held twice a year and paid) and annual appraisals (held once a year).
Additional Information
If this role is of interest please get in touch with our Agency Advisers to find out more; Marie Bradley on marie.bradley@gloucestershire.gov.uk or Joanne England on joanne.england@gloucestershire.gov.uk or Chris Haskayne on chris.haskayne@gloucestershire.gov.uk.
To access the Job Profile for this role, please follow the link below:-
This position is subject to a DBS check.
Gloucestershire County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people or vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Gloucestershire’s diverse communities. Our promise to you is that we will provide an inclusive and supportive working environment that enables you to bring your whole self to work and realise your full potential.
It is a legal requirement, under the Immigration Act 2016, that anyone appointed to a ‘customer facing role’ must be able to demonstrate an ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in fluent English.
Hybrid working arrangements are available for the majority of our roles, giving teams the opportunity to work in a way that suits them, balancing service need and individual choice, with a mix of both remote and office working.