Team Leader - Fostering Support

We are seeking an experienced and motivated Fostering Support Team Leader to provide day-to-day leadership of our Fostering Support Team. You will lead a team of Supervising Social Workers and support staff, ensuring the delivery of a high-quality, child-centred fostering support service. The role has a strong focus on supporting foster carers, promoting placement stability and ensuring practice meets statutory duties, fostering regulations and the National Minimum Standards. Working closely with colleagues across Kinship, Adoption, Fostering Recruitment, Home Finding and Commissioning, you will play a key role in the delivery and continuous improvement of fostering services for children we care for., As a Fostering Support Team Leader, you will

• Provide leadership, management and reflective supervision to the Fostering Support Team
• Promote a learning culture, staff wellbeing and high professional standards
• Ensure foster carers receive effective supervision, support and access to training
• Oversee assessments, annual reviews and preparation of high-quality reports for Fostering Panel
• Monitor performance, quality and compliance, using data to drive improvement
• Lead quality assurance activity, learning from audits, feedback and complaints
• Ensure robust safeguarding and proportionate responses to allegations or concerns
• Work collaboratively with internal teams and external partners to improve outcomes
• Manage delegated resources responsibly and contribute to value for money
• Model inclusive, ethical and strengths-based leadership behaviour
  
  You will be a credible and inspirational social work leader with a strong understanding of fostering support and supervision, and their impact on children's safety, wellbeing and permanence.
You will be motivated, curious and solution-focused, with a clear commitment to improving outcomes for children and supporting foster carers. Essential requirements You will have:
• A recognised Social Work qualification (DipSW, Degree or MSc)
• Registration with Social Work England
• Substantial post-qualifying experience in children's social care, including fostering and children we care for
• Experience of leading practice and providing high-quality supervision
• Strong knowledge of fostering legislation, regulations and National Minimum Standards
• Experience of quality assurance, audit and performance management
• Ability to manage competing demands and make sound, risk-based decisions
• Excellent communication, organisational and analytical skills
• Strong written and IT skills