Fostering Support Teams and Placement Team
The support side of fostering is to assist foster carer households to provide high quality, evidence-based care to children. This is largely through relationship-based, restorative practice characteristic of high support and high challenge.
Where are you based?
The Fostering Service is predominantly based in Shire Hall.
There are 3 locality teams as follows:
- Team 1 - Cheltenham and Tewkesbury
- Team 2 – Forest of Dean
- Team 3 - Cotswolds and Stoud
All 3 locality teams also support a proportion of foster families in the Gloucester locality.
The locality teams sometimes work from locality offices. for example, we regularly hold team meetings in Dean House (Cinderford). This is to help build relationships with the children’s social work teams. This also promotes partnership working and good communication.
One of our teams supports band 3 foster carers who are assessed as having specialist skills and carers offering Parent and Child homes.
They have responsibility for all requests for fostering arrangements, who then identify and link requests to fostering households.
Who works in your team?
The placement team is led by a Team Manager.
We have six social workers, four who are responsible for supervising and supporting our specialised fostering households, one social worker who works within the placement finding remit of the team, alongside one social worker who manages our newly developed supported lodgings scheme.
Our team also has two family support workers, two placement finding officers, and one full time administrator
What does your team do?
We are a hybrid team who all work closely with each other and with our colleagues within the three other fostering support teams, and colleagues in the commissioning service.
The support side of fostering is to assist foster carer households to provide high quality, evidence-based care to children. This is largely through relationship-based, restorative practice characteristic of high support and high challenge.
The placement finding side of our team takes all the referral requests for fostering provisions, including parent and child arrangements, planned and same day emergency arrangements. The referrals are then matched to inhouse fostering households, after discussions with supervising social workers and childcare social workers. Day care and other support can also be accessed by the placement finding team. We manage fostering households who can support same day emergency and out of hours request for foster homes within Gloucestershire with our approved foster carers.
We also run five support groups, Parent and child, Emergency and same day, unaccompanied asylum seeking group, single carers and Band 3 foster carers groups.
Skills you will need
It is necessary to be able to build and maintain positive working relationships with a range of people and to work within professional boundaries.
- Listening and observational skills are essential to ensure that the child’s lived experience is understood.
- Strong communication skills are essential because our team works with several partner teams and agencies.
- Emotional intelligence and self-awareness are important. This will support you to work effectively with both foster carers and the children/young people they care for.
- Problem solving skills, empathy, patience and being able to prioritise work is crucial.
- Knowledge of the Children Act (1989), Fostering Regulations (2011) and Fostering National Minimum Standards (2011) is essential. This legislation and policy underpin our work.
There is a wide range of skills and knowledge across the fostering support teams. This includes Safeguarding, Children in Care, CAFCASS, Probation, Edge of Care, Youth Support, Youth Offending, Reunification and Adoption experience. All our staff have a good understanding of adverse childhood experiences and the impact of trauma on a child’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The Fostering Support Teams actively promote trauma informed care to the foster carers we supervise. In addition to directly supporting a caseload of foster families, many of our Supervising Social Workers facilitate foster carer support groups.
Why you should join us
Here's what some of our colleagues say:
“We have a fantastic manager who is always there for us to listen and support. Each member of our team has great qualities, empathy, understanding, humour and most of all approachable and trustworthy. They always offer support be it professionally or personally. Everyone is appreciated no matter what role they play.”
Testimonial from Julie, fostering support worker
“We are a great team to join as team members are diverse, supportive of each other and have a range of skills and experience. There is friendly and relaxed atmosphere within the team despite significant pressures to find homes for children and young people.”
Ryan, senior supervising social worker
“We are a super supportive team, with lots of characters in the team! As a placement finding officer the work is always fast paced and engaging and you get to talk to a lot of people daily, which is lovely!
We also have a good team spirit and monthly meetings where the team gets together across all its different sections. It really is a lovely place to work!”
Jacob, placement finding officer
Our work is varied, fast paced yet very rewarding. We are a great team who all work well together, are supportive of each other and can always be relied upon to be there for each other.
Get in touch
We'd love to tell you more!
Our Head of Service and Service Manager are always keen to talk about any aspects of fostering and children in care and would welcome any contact.
✉ Email: Tammy.wheatley@gloucestershire.gov.uk
✉ Email: Lisa.long@gloucestershire.gov.uk
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