Fostering Manager

Dyddiad hysbysebu:	21 Mai 2025
Cyflog:	Heb ei nodi
Gwybodaeth ychwanegol am y cyflog:	Competitive
Oriau:	Llawn Amser
Dyddiad cau:	20 Mehefin 2025
Lleoliad:	Salford, M275AW
Cwmni:	inploi
Math o swydd:	Parhaol
Cyfeirnod swydd:	75703935

Crynodeb

12-month Fostering Manager Fixed Term Position
Full Time 5 days per week
Interview Date: Monday 7th July 2025

Are you passionate about improving outcomes for children and families? Do you want to shape how Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs) are supported from the earliest stages? We're looking for a committed and strategic professional to lead the development of our Pre-SGO Support and Early Assessment offer.

About the Role

This is an exciting 12-month opportunity to explore and lead work at the intersection of fostering and Special Guardianship. The successful candidate will develop and lead a new model focused on early identification, preparation, and support for prospective Special Guardians ensuring long-term stability and improved outcomes for children.

You’ll play a vital role within the Fostering Service supporting early permanence, providing pre-SGO advice and guidance, act as advisor to the SGO panel, reviewing and quality assuring assessments and support plans, and contributing to operational leadership, Fostering duty, support, policy development, and management tasks.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the Pre-SGO Support model, supporting placement preparation, informed decision-making, and access to therapeutic training.
• Provide direct advice and guidance pre-SGO to carers, parents and social work teams and practitioners, supporting informed and safe decision-making.
• Ensure early relationship assessments to identify family strengths and vulnerabilities, ensuring timely support and intervention.
• Lead on early dual pathway reviews (SGO/CAO & F&F fostering), reducing duplication and enhancing early permanence planning.
• Act as an advisor to the SGO panel, providing quality assurance and safeguarding oversight of assessments and support plans.
• Support fostering duty functions, including decision-making around placements and support responses.
• Update and review policy and guidance, ensuring regulatory compliance and reflective best practice.
• Provide monthly reporting on key performance indicators.
• Supervise and support staff, promoting professional development and reflective practice.
• Review and sign off management-level tasks, ensuring accountability, consistency, and a high standard of practice across the service.
• Champion a model of early permanence for children, reducing delay and supporting outcomes of least intervention.

About You

We are looking for a candidate who is:

You will be a qualified social worker with current registration with Social Work England, and bring extensive experience in fostering and SGO practice, including a detailed understanding of relevant legislation, SGO and fostering regulations, and national minimum standards.

You will have the confidence and credibility to advise social workers, families and carers, particularly during the critical pre-SGO phase, and the professional authority to ensure quality and safeguarding across all aspects of service delivery.

We are looking for someone who combines strong operational leadership with the ability to build trusting, effective relationships at every levelwhether that’s supervising staff, chairing panels, advising senior colleagues, or working directly with families and carers. Your communication skills will be outstanding: clear, compassionate, and able to navigate complex situations with sensitivity and professionalism.

You will have a proven ability to:

Provide high-quality supervision and oversight of practice. Lead on quality assurance, safeguarding, and service development. Represent the service with confidence in panels, inspections, and multi-agency settings.

Work collaboratively across teams to embed a child-centred, strengths-based culture, using Salford’s family partnership model. Contribute to and lead on fostering duty, policy review and development and practice leadership.

This is an ideal role for someone who thrives in a values-led environment, is both reflective and decisive, and is driven by a genuine commitment to delivering the best possible support for children, carers, and families.

What We Offer:

• The opportunity to shape and test an innovative approach to early permanence and SGO preparation.
• A collaborative and forward-thinking team environment.
• Professional development opportunities and scope to influence wider service improvements.
• A strong stable team with good relationships and inclusive approach.
• Working within an Good Ofsted rated authority aiming for outstanding.

To apply, please submit your CV and a supporting statement outlining your experience delivering the key responsibilities and candidate requirements.

We will not be accepting candidates who require a sponsorship for this position.

Please be aware that this post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. If you have lived or worked abroad for 3 months or more in the last 5 years or 12 months or more (whether continuously or in total) in the last 10 years whilst aged 18 or over, please refer to the link below for details for how to obtain your Certificates of Good Character. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants

Want to know more about Salford?

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Find out about our city as a place to live, work & grow, and learn more about the amazing work we are doing. You’ll also find out about the wealth of benefits we have to offer you here!

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