Family Finding Social Worker

Contract: Permanent

Location: Hereford

Hours: 37 Hours (Part time & job share also considered)

Salary: HC08 £33,785 - £37,878 Per Annum

Closing: 22/12/2020

Passionate about giving children and young people a great start in life?

Our priority in Herefordshire is to keep children safe and give them a great start in life. It’s the priority for the council, our partners and for all of us who work in Children’s Wellbeing. How do we do this? By having dynamic, dedicated, passionate and professional staff who work in a culture that focuses on what we can achieve with children, what they can achieve themselves, and the relationship we build with families and partners to enable this.

Herefordshire has a really strong team ethos. Our teams are passionate about the work they do and the positive difference they and the teams they are in make to people’s lives. This is all underpinned by the focus and support from their managers and the council as a whole.

We are looking for a social worker to join our Early Permanence Hub, working alongside children’s social workers to establish permanency for Herefordshire children. You will work closely with Adoption Central England to identify adopters who can best meet a child’s needs. You will support the team around the child throughout the adoption process, conducting family finding visits, ensuring all paperwork and tasks are completed prior to attending adoption panel, completing transition plans and then supporting all involved until the child is placed for adoption.

This role involves evening and weekend duties whilst children are making the transition from foster care to adoption. You will need to make pre-arranged phone calls to fostering and adoption social workers each day to assess how the child is managing introductions. Phone calls should take no more than 1 hour each day. Supporting introductions is shared between members of the EP hub.

Experience of children’s social work is beneficial, more importantly, the ideal candidate will have a passion for adoption work. We are a small, friendly, supportive team. We welcome interest from candidates who wish to work full time or part time.

To find out more about working in children’s services, please visit www.herefordshire.gov.uk/childrensocialwork or contact Helen Mathieson on 01432 383247.

Competitive relocation payment of up to £10,000.

We welcome applicants whatever their personal characteristics or social identity. All requests for flexible working arrangements and reasonable adjustments will be considered.

The following candidates will be interviewed if they meet the essential criteria for the post they are applying for:

• Those who indicate that they have a disability. This is part of our commitment to the “Disability Confident” scheme;

• Those who indicate in their supporting statement that they are an Armed Forces Veteran or Reservist. This is part of our pledge to support the Armed Forces Covenant; and

• Those who indicate in their supporting statement that they are a Herefordshire care leaver. This is part of our commitment to supporting young people leaving our care.

Benefits with Herefordshire Council

Holidays: 25 days per year plus 2 days unpaid at Christmas (pro rata for part time)

Pension: LGS pension scheme

Pick your perks – our benefits include access to a range of retail, leisure, holiday and health benefits. This includes savings, cash back and discounts. We also offer an employee assistance programme that means you will have access to confidential support and advice if you ever need it.

Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for more details of this role.

PLEASE NOTE: Applicants must apply online for this vacancy, we do not accept emailed CV’S. Your application should include a CV and an accompanying statement of no more than 2 sides of A4 showing how your experience meets the person specification.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.