Team Manager - Fostering Team

Would you like to be a part of The London Borough of Hounslow, whose diverse workforce are committed to making a positive difference for our residents and visitors by ensuring the quality of our services are maintained to a high standard?

The Council is embarking upon a major programme of change to modernise the way we work and reduce our carbon footprint. In April 2019 we moved to Hounslow House, a new landmark building located in Hounslow town centre, our new technology will enable staff to work remotely and flexibly to improve the service we provide to residents and to help our staff achieve a better work/life balance.

Hounslow is seeking an experienced, dedicated and committed Fostering Team Manager to manage the Local Authority’s Fostering Service on a permanent basis.

Hounslow’s fostering team is a well-established service that currently supports 110 fostering Households in delivering high standards of care to 111 children and 15 young “staying put” young adults. Feedback on the team and the quality of care to given children by Hounslow Carers from OFSTED at Hounslow’s last OFSTED was extremely positive, and the service is well regarded by Social Workers and managers within Children’s Services.

The Service performs favourably in comparison to neighbouring Authorities but the Council ambitious to expand its role to provide care for as many of Hounslow’s Looked after Children as possible, reducing reliance on external providers to a minimum. 

The Council is committed to:

•  Recruiting a significant number of additional Foster carers and maximising the retention of Foster carers.
• Increasing the training and support to all carers, and creating a cohort of highly skilled and resilient carers who are able to care for children with complex and challenging behaviour.

The successful candidate will be responsible for managing all aspects of the running of a Fostering Service and leading and supporting a highly motivated, experienced and stable staff team in continuing to deliver current excellent standards of care. 

This is an exciting and challenging opportunity for an enthusiastic and highly motivated leader who has a sound knowledge of fostering.  You will already have experience of management within a fostering setting, understand and be able to implement legislation, policy and procedure and be prepared to innovate, improve and develop a dynamic fostering team delivering the highest quality care including those who have complex and diverse needs and demonstrate behaviour that is a challenge.

We have amazing Looked after Children. We want the best for them!

Key Responsibilities

1. To ensure that the Fostering Service is managed effectively, outstanding and inspiring leadership is practiced, and a high standard of care is provided which is compliant with relevant legislation.
2. To lead and manage the team in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the Team’s Statement of Purpose
3. To build upon an manage the Home providing a comprehensive range of services to children and young people which is focused on the progress and experiences of each child, assessing needs and incorporating the views of the young people, their families and the network around the child.
4. Oversee and ensure the strategic development and implementation of policies and the strategies that support service provision are up to date and relevant, this will include the production of appropriate analyses, policies, strategies, quality standards and care.

Your Skills and knowledge

1. An ability to demonstrate a sound knowledge and understanding of the key principles of the Children Act, Fostering regulations, and awareness of relevant legislation, guidance and regulations in respect of the Local Authorities’ responsibilities to the management of fostering and the care, Safeguarding and well-being of children and young people.
2. The ability to build relationships and communicate effectively with carers, children and young people, parents, staff and other professional colleagues in order to develop holistic and robust care planning.
3. Skills in assessment, analysis and management of risk and taking decisions in the best interests of the child, the worker and the organisation. Ability to assess the level of risk and / or service to be offered to users, ensuring that the highest priority work is allocated and that the safety and wellbeing of the child is secured.
4. The ability to manage your own workload and establish team targets and priorities.

Essential for The Role

QUALIFICATIONS:

1. A professional Social Work Qualification recognised in England is a requirement for this role.
2. The applicant is required to be registered with the appropriate Social Work body (HCPC/Social Work England).
3. The post holder will become ‘Registered Manager’ of the fostering team and as such will be required to satisfy OFSTED that they meet the ‘fitness of manager’ test as set out in The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 part 3 regs 7-9.
4. There is a requirement to pass an Enhanced DBS check.

FLUENCY DUTY

This post is considered by the authority to be a customer-facing position; as such it falls within scope of the Code of Practice on English language requirement for public sector workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the employee specification.

If you would like an informal conversation regarding the position please contact bob.spencer@hounslow.gov.uk or 020 8583 3317

Interviews will be held during week commencing:  20 January 2020

Closing date: 10^th January 2020