Job Description

Role: Fostering Social Worker

Salary: £41,500 (a higher salary can be considered for an exceptional candidate)

Contract/Hours: Permanent Full-Time 37 hrs per week

Location: Hybrid – Glasgow

Benefits:

• 29 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays, with up to 5 additional days for continuous service and option to buy or sell leave
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities
• Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages
• Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover
• Staff discount portal and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers discounts.

Vulnerable children in the UK need your help

Wherever you work in the Action for Children family, you'll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

Last year, we helped more than 687,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive.

Why Action for Children?

Working here is more than a job. Everyone in the Action for Children family is passionate about protecting and supporting children. It's the sense of purpose that drives us every single day. Because we know that, when we work together, we can make a huge difference to bring lasting improvements to vulnerable children's lives.

A bit about the role

We are looking for an outstanding Fostering Social Worker who can support foster families in Scotland, you will have a small case load, you will be part of a dedicated team who provide regulated services and high standards of care. Action for Children foster services are rated “Good” by the Care Inspectorate.

About the service

Action for Children’s Fostering Scotland Service is a dedicated and specialist fostering provider, committed to delivering attachment-based, therapeutic care to children and young people who are unable to live safely at home. We provide nurturing environments that support emotional healing, resilience and long-term stability for every young person we care for.

We pride ourselves on maintaining the highest standards of care. Our foster carers receive exceptional training, ongoing supervision and comprehensive support to help them meet the complex and individual needs of each young person. This commitment is reflected in our latest Fostering Inspection, where we received outstanding feedback for the quality, professionalism and impact of our work.

Listening to children and young people is central to everything we do. Their voices guide our decision-making and shape the support we provide. We work collaboratively and compassionately, creating space for their experiences, views and aspirations to be heard—every step of the way. To do this our Supervising Social Workers have dedicated space for one-to-one work with young people within the service

We offer a positive and supportive team culture which values diversity and innovation. We prioritise reflective supervision for our social workers and offer therapeutic supervision on an individual and group basis.

There are ample opportunities for continuing professional development within in team including Practice Teaching, Therapeutic Life Story Work and Non-Violent Resistance qualifications.

How you'll help to create brighter futures

• Providing professional supervision[CN2] and developmental support, including advice and guidance to fostering families and working with other [CN3] professionals where appropriate.
• Completing complex assessments of applicants to foster, making appropriate recommendations, to ensure the best outcome for children, young people, and families.
• Offering high-quality relationship-based practice with a trauma informed focus. Supporting fostering families to look after children and young people who have experienced trauma, ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to enable them to undertake this complex task within a family home environment
• Undertaking fostering reviews, providing high quality, analytical reports and presenting to Panel where appropriate, ensuring that children are receiving the best service possible[CN4] .
• Being accountable for ensuring statutory compliance and meet regulatory body requirements regarding registration.
• Enthusiasm for learning and self-development, for yourself as a reflective practitioner, and in support of our carer training, service development and innovation[CN5] .

Let's talk about you

Are you resilient and have a positive approach to change and challenge? We are looking for someone with a ‘can do’ attitude to join our team. Ideally you will have:

• A Social Work qualification is essential.
• Registration with Social Work Scotland is essential.
• A strong commitment to work within our therapeutic framework to support the needs of the young person.
• Commitment to working relationally with families to provide the best possible environment for security, growth and development.
• The capacity to plan and prioritise,
• To use electronic records system and IT effectively
• Experience of fostering is preferable.
• Driver’s licence and access to own vehicle is essential to travel across Scotland[CN6]

Good to know 

Application Process

There are five sections to complete: Personal Details, CV, Supporting Statement & Information, Equality & Diversity, Submission & Declaration.

Contact: Jessica Jarvis by email at recruitmentservice@actionforchildren.org.uk quoting reference 13648

Diversity, equality and inclusion

At Action for Children, we're dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace.

We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic and disabled candidates as they are under-represented within Action for Children. We want to take deliberate and purposeful action to ensure equal opportunity to all groups in society and for Action for Children.

Male staff are under-represented within our Children Service roles. We would like to encourage more male applicants for our Children Service roles.] 

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Job Description

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Action for Children Employee Benefits

AfC Commitment Statement

Make a Difference - A Career in Residential Services