Fareham, Hampshire
Circa £22,000 per annum
Permanent, Full Time working 37 hours per week

Giving children and young people the foundations they need to thrive.

The role

An exciting position has arisen for a Children Services Practitioner within Action for Children South Fostering Service. Fostering Wessex provide a therapeutic fostering service to support children and young people with complex needs. It offers those who have experienced significant trauma in their lives an opportunity to overcome adversity and have the chance to form stable and secure relationships with their foster parents and learn to be a child again.

As a Children and Families Practitioner you will be working as part of our fostering service, to offer a range of support to prospective foster carers, children and young people. The project comprises a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team and works in close partnership with a range of local Statutory, Voluntary and Community service providers to provide a needs-led approach to the delivery of services in the area.

You will make a difference by:

- Providing 1:1 and group interventions with children, young people and foster families
- Using a multi-agency approach and liaising with other professional bodies.
- Recording and processing information.
- Delivering training and completing initial home visits to prospective foster carers.
- Supporting with duty cover, managing referrals and communicating with available foster carer.
- Overseeing local marketing activity across the fostering service (Kent, Hampshire and London)
- Ensuring Safeguarding polices and practices are always in place.
- Ensuring positive outcomes are achieved through a care needs assessment.

You will need:

- Level 3 NVQ in Social Care or relevant experience.
- Driver's Licence and access to own car.
- Excellent interpersonal skills.
- Previous experience working with foster families would be an advantage.
- Positive and proactive approach towards work.
- Sound knowledge and understanding of Safeguarding.

The way we work

We work to make sure every child and young person has the love, support and opportunity they need to reach their potential. If you share the same vision, we want you to join our team.

Rewards

We want our employees to feel valued and rewarded for the vital work they do. When you work with us, we'll recognise your efforts with generous annual leave, a comprehensive employer-matched pension scheme and a range of deals and discounts on our dedicated benefits portal.

For safe and happy childhoods

At Action for Children, we protect and support children and young people, providing practical and emotional care and support, ensuring their voices are heard, and campaigning to bring lasting improvements to their lives. Last year, we helped more than 387,000 children and families across the UK.

We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users; therefore, all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best-practice.

Action for Children is passionate about promoting equality, valuing diversity and working inclusively. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons particularly people with Disabilities and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic applicants, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.