Job Summary
We are seeking dedicated and compassionate individuals to serve as Fostering Panel Members. In this role, you will play a vital part in making informed recommendations regarding the suitability of prospective foster carers and foster carers. The position offers an opportunity to contribute positively to the lives of children and young people by ensuring they are placed in safe, nurturing homes. Candidates should possess a genuine interest in child centred decision making and be committed to safeguarding their wellbeing.
About Us
We are a child-centred non-profit Independent Fostering Agency guided by strong moral principles, integrity, and a commitment to ethical social work practice. Our mission is to provide safe, nurturing, and stable homes for children and young people while upholding the highest standards of care and professional behaviour.
Description of the role:
- To read the circulated papers carefully before the meeting, and to attend the meeting prepared to raise issues and to contribute to the panel discussion.
- To take responsibility for participating in the making of a recommendation, on each case, drawing on both personal and professional knowledge and experience.
- To attend meetings of the panel as specified in your agreement with the agency.
- To be prepared to attend additional panels if possible, if requested.
- To participate with other members, in advising on policy and procedural matters as required.
- To address diversity issues and promote anti-discriminatory practice.
- To safeguard the confidentiality of all panel papers and panel discussions.
- To participate in induction and in training which will be at least one day per year.
- To participate constructively in the annual review of your central list panel membership.
- To adhere to the agency’s panel member code of conduct, if provided.
Person Specification:
Knowledge:
Experience and Qualifications:
- Experience, either professionally or personally or both, of the placement of children in foster families or of children being cared for away from their birth family.
- A social work qualification will be necessary for certain panel members but not all.
- An appreciation of the effect of separation and loss on children.
- Awareness of the richness of different kinds of families and their potential for meeting children’s needs.
- Some understanding of the purpose and function of the panel and of the agency which the panel is serving, or a willingness to learn.
Abilities:
- Good listening and communication skills.
- The ability to read, process and analyse large amounts of complex and sometimes distressing information.
- The ability to make an assessment and to form a view, based on the written and verbal information presented to panel, and the confidence to articulate this at panel.
- The ability to use personal and/or professional knowledge and experience to contribute to discussions, and decision-making in a balanced and informed manner.
- The ability to work cooperatively as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
- The ability to attend panel meetings, as required, arriving on time, and to attend at least one training day each year.
Attitudes:
- A commitment to keeping children within their own family or community where this is possible, and to maintaining contact between children living in foster families and their birth families where this appears to be in the child’s best interests.
- A commitment to fostering as a way of meeting a child’s needs where this appears to be in the child’s best interests.
- A commitment to safeguarding and promoting children’s welfare in foster care.A valuing of diversity in relation to issues of ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, and sexuality.
- An understanding of, and a commitment to, the need for confidentiality.A willingness to increase knowledge and understanding of issues through reading, discussion, and training.
- A willingness to contribute constructively to the annual review of your central list panel membership and, as required, to that of other members and the Chair.
We are looking for a number of people to join the Fostering Panel, specifically:
with care experience, and/or someone currently fostering.
Pay: £120.00 per day
Benefits:
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Durham DH7 8XL
