Job Description

Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities! We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants.

It's an exciting time to join us - Lewisham is a wave 2 Pathfinder authority and is leading the way on national reforms to social work practice through the Families First for Children programme.

INTRODUCTION

We are seeking a skilled and compassionate Fostering Family Therapist to join our Fostering and Kinship Service. The post holder will play a central role in supporting foster carers, children and young people to experience stable, trauma-informed and relationship-based care. Working systemically, the therapist will strengthen placement stability, build carers’ therapeutic capacity and promote emotional wellbeing for children in care.

The ideal candidate is a qualified and registered therapeutic professional with significant experience supporting children and families impacted by developmental trauma and attachment difficulties. They bring strong expertise in trauma‑informed, relational and systemic practice, and are skilled at working collaboratively within multi‑agency networks. The candidate is confident in providing consultation, direct therapeutic work, training and reflective support to foster carers, helping them develop therapeutic parenting approaches and maintain stable placements. They communicate effectively, build trusting relationships, and demonstrate a clear commitment to child‑centred, inclusive and value‑led practice, with the ability to contribute thoughtfully to care planning, placement stability and service development.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide regular clinical consultations and reflective support to foster and kinship carers.
• Support carers to embed therapeutic parenting approaches such as PACE, attachment-based and Dyadic Developmental Practice models.
• Model therapeutic responses, co-regulation strategies and trauma-informed care.
• Deliver direct therapeutic interventions with children and young people where appropriate, including play, creative and CBT-informed approaches.
• Support children to develop emotional regulation, trust, identity, self-esteem and positive relationships.
• Contribute clinical insight to placement matching, care planning and placement stability discussions.
• Work collaboratively with social workers, supervising social workers, CAMHS, schools, health professionals and other partners.
• Provide crisis support to placements under strain and contribute to stability and safeguarding meetings.
• Design and deliver training for foster and kinship carers and staff on trauma, attachment, behaviour and mental health.
• Facilitate reflective practice and support groups for foster and kinship carers.
• Support service development, including contributing to policies, procedures, evaluations and evidence-based practice.

About You

You will be a suitably qualified and professionally registered therapeutic practitioner with substantial experience supporting children and families affected by developmental trauma and attachment difficulties. You will have a strong grounding in trauma‑informed practice, relational and systemic approaches, and be confident working within complex, multi‑agency environments to inform care planning and placement stability.

You will bring the ability to deliver training, consultation and reflective practice to foster and kinship carers and professionals, alongside excellent communication, organisational and relationship‑building skills. You will also demonstrate a clear commitment to equality, diversity and child‑centred practice, ensuring the needs and wellbeing of children remain central to all aspects of your work.

What’s in it for you?

• Be part of a supportive and passionate team.
• Make a real impact in the lives of children, families and foster and kinship carers.
• Opportunities for professional development and training.
• Flexible working arrangements available.

Our Vision - What Good Children’s Social Work Looks Like in Lewisham

In Lewisham Children’s Social Care, we know what good social work looks like and we are passionate about creating the right conditions and culture for good practice to thrive.

• Families are respected and supported to stay together, whenever there is safety.
• Families will tell us they understand why we are involved.
• Children will tell us their social worker has made a difference to their lives.
• Children who are in our care know we care, and we won’t give up on them.
• Young people who have been in our care feel confident about their future.

We have taken a whole system approach to improving our services to children and young people in our borough using Signs of Safety as our practice model. Ofsted recognised the progress we have made noting that:

• Staff talk positively about their manageable caseloads, regular supervision, team meetings and access to a range of training, including the social work model of practice.
• Senior leaders demonstrate a clear focus on hearing the voices of children to develop and improve services.
• Leaders know the service well. They have a clear understanding of areas for development that are being appropriately addressed.

In January 2024, Ofsted's report lauds significant improvements in our children's services. Praised areas include strong leadership, high-quality support for families and children, and positive outcomes across all criteria.

• The Executive Director for Children and Young People and his team are credited for driving these improvements, with particular focus on enhancing workforce stability, early help services, and partnerships with stakeholders.
• Noteworthy practices include creative life-story work and culturally sensitive social work approaches, crucial in a diverse borough like Lewisham.
• The Council's anti-racist practice network and safe space platform also garnered praise for supporting staff from black and global majority backgrounds.
• Overall, the report highlights a commendable commitment to improving outcomes for vulnerable children and young people in Lewisham.

Why choose Lewisham?

“Lewisham has so much to offer any social worker. I feel supported, respected and valued every step of the way” (Social Worker).

Our social workers benefit from working in small, supportive teams with caseloads on average between 15-20 children. Our Signs of Safety family-led practice framework means we are committed to working in a relationship-based way with children and families, focussing on strengths in the family network to effect change. A positive learning culture which promotes opportunities for reflection and relationship-based practice is important to us. We are committed to developing our practice using reflective practice spaces such as case mapping, thinking spaces and group supervision.

Our permanent and stable senior management team are visible and approachable. Our dedicated workforce team supports professional development across the service so that you will;

• be supported through our comprehensive learning and development offer, which includes subscription to ‘Research in Practice’.
• receive regular supervision and appraisal.
• have 1-1 practice development coaching as a case holder, and professional development coaching as a manager.
• have access to regular Signs of Safety training
• have access to external leadership development opportunities such as the Black and Asian Leadership Initiative (BALI).
• have a clearly defined career progression pathway with opportunities for professional development at all levels.
• opportunities to become a practice educator and work with students and newly qualified social workers.

What we’re looking for

If you want to work in a thriving borough and our social work vision connects with your professional values, then we are interested in hearing from you. We are looking for people to join our team who:

• value the importance of communication and seeking feedback
• can inspire and motivate those they work with, manage and lead
• are committed to developing their skills and expertise to deliver an excellent service
• are professionally curious and value thinking slowly and calmly in a balanced way
• work inclusively, collaboratively with others recognising their strengths
• take responsibility and make a positive contribution by focusing on solutions
• are transparent, are appreciative in enquiry, reflect and learn.

In return, we’ll offer excellent development opportunities, the opportunity to make a real difference to our local community plus a range of benefits including:

• Generous leave entitlement
• Local Government Pension scheme
• Flexible working and family friendly policies
• Season ticket and bicycle loans
• A range of staff discounts including local subsidised gym memberships
• Supportive staff networks

Location

The job is primarily based in Laurence House, 1 Catford Road, London, SE6 4RU. There are 2 local train stations 3-5 minutes’ walk from the office, and the train journey from London Bridge is approximately 15 minutes. There are also numerous bus routes that stop right by the office.

We operate a hybrid approach where you will be required to work both in the office and from home on a regular basis.

Creating an Inclusive Lewisham

A core value of Lewisham Council is to 'draw on the diversity of our communities to create a more inclusive Lewisham'. We believe that freedom from discrimination and equality of opportunity are fundamental rights, and that each person should be valued regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender re-assignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, or age. Social inclusion lies at the heart of everything we do as a Council in our roles as an employer, a provider of services and a community leader.

Diversity

Lewisham Council is a Disability Confident employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

The Council has a dedicated employment support service, Lewisham Works, which offers Lewisham residents guidance in relation to applying for jobs. If you want to join Lewisham Works, please email JobsAndSkills@lewisham.gov.uk and an advisor will be in touch with you.

Your Application

The recruitment process is anonymous and we don’t accept CV’s.

Applicant handbook- please read the guidance in this handbook when applying. It is essential that you complete the application fully and that your supporting statement covers how you meet each of the person specification criteria listed.

Special conditions

• A recognised professional qualification in psychology, psychotherapy, social work, counselling, or a related therapeutic discipline.
• The job is subject to a DBS check (Basic/Enhanced)

For an informal discussion about this job, please contact pathfinder@lewisham.gov.uk

Please click here to view the Job Description and Person Specification

Salary

£60,633 -£62,742 SCPO7 (SCP45-SCP47)

All appointments will be offered at the minimum spinal column point (SCP) for the grade of the role. The only exception to this will be when matching current salary (up to the maximum of the scale), which is subject to evidential proof.

The Council reserves the right to close adverts early if there is a large response.

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