An exciting opportunity has arisen for a full time Social Worker position in the Special Guardianship Service within the Salford Fostering Service as a full-time permanent post.

We are a friendly and stable team working with children and families who have special guardianship orders. We work closely with Special Guardians, birth parents and children, and their support networks - offering advice, guidance and therapeutic-informed support to sustain placements. We are a small team sitting within the wider Fostering Service and work across the service to achieve positive outcomes for all Foster carers and Special Guardians.

We cover the local authority area, currently through a combination of office based and home working arrangements, in line with Salford City Council guidance. You will be office based for the duration of the induction period. You will have access to the Co-wheels car club. There is a requirement to be able to work outside the local authority area where carers reside elsewhere in England.

About the role

This Social Worker role is a great opportunity for someone who wishes to contribute to the development of Special Guardianship services in Salford. You will receive a comprehensive office based induction and be supported through regular 1:1 supervision, Personal Development reviews, regular team and service meetings, and access to learning and development opportunities.

The successful candidate will demonstrate excellent communication skills and ability to manage and prioritise their own caseload, whilst working as a member of the team. You will need to be qualified and professionally registered as a social worker, have knowledge of current legislation and regulations, and have demonstrated your experience and abilities in respect of working in partnership with children, young people, families and partner agencies.

You will support the team by responding to and undertaking a variety of contacts and referrals and assessments, including Fostering Duty; providing advice and information to colleagues and external professionals; collaboratively working using the Family Partnership Model within the Local Authority. Your role is to support placements for children and young people, including: working with complex families who may be in the child in need, child protection, and legal arenas; completing special guardianship assessments of applicants; co-ordinating support arrangements and adoption support fund applications; undertaking annual reviews of support plans; delivering workshops, training, and facilitating support groups; and making onward referrals. You will need to understand the support needs and legislation that applies to SGO families who live in England, the UK, and internationally.

The role will require you to complete support needs assessments to identify areas of support for families. You will need to be flexible and able to undertake visits and attend multi-agency meetings. You will attend court and be skilled in completing assessments and reports for court.

We are looking for applicants who will be confident in working with children and young people in sometimes difficult situations, their carers, birth parents, and other professionals. You will have knowledge of therapeutic parenting or have a willingness to learn about this style of parenting, and be able to offer proactive support and reflection regarding children’s presentation and behaviours linking to attachment, secure base and trauma related theory.

If you are interested in working with us at the fostering Team and would like to find out more please get in touch with Camilla Norman or Kimberley Fletcher on 0161 7797800 (option 2).

Our commitment to you is a competitive package, outstanding support from experienced managers, a manageable workload, regular supervision, quality training and the opportunity to build on your strengths and develop your skills. Ofsted published the recent inspection report, and Salford’s Children’s Services has been rated overall as ‘Good’, but with an ‘Outstanding’ rating for our care leaver support and ‘Outstanding’ for leadership.

Please be aware that this post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. If you have lived or worked abroad for 3 months or more in the last 5 years or 12 months or more (whether continuously or in total) in the last 10 years whilst aged 18 or over, please refer to the link below for details for how to obtain your Certificates of Good Character.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants