Participation Officer (Children & Families - Fostering)
ACTIVE CARE SOLUTIONS (ACS)
Participation Officer – Part Time - 25 Hours Per Week
Salary: £14,782 per Annum (with the full time equivalent being £20694.80 per annum)
Benefits: 30 days' Annual Leave, rising to 35 day's with length of service, + Bank Holidays, Life Assurance, Employee Discount Scheme & Medical Cash Plan
Location: Office Based (Blackburn or Oldham) with flexibility to work from home – Covering the West Midlands and the North West Region. (There may be the occasional need to assist our Foster Parents in Yorkshire)
ABOUT US
We’re a high-quality fostering organisation, recognised as ‘Outstanding’ by OFSTED, and one of the UK’s only independent fostering agencies specialising in cultural and faith-based fostering placements.
That’s what we set out to do in 2012, and we’re still doing it today. Our focus is on helping children and young people with specific religious or cultural needs find foster parents who share their values and identity and can provide a safe and loving home. As such we provide a specialist service and in our most recent inspection in 2024, OFSTED rated us as ‘Outstanding’ in every area of our work
Our head office is in the West Midlands, but as out reputation and services have grown, so has our presence across the UK. We now have an office in Blackburn and also cover the East Midlands and Yorkshire. We are fortunate to have Kulvinder Kaur Sahota as our manager in process of registration and are a close, supportive staff team.
Role responsibilities
- Promote initiatives and engage our young people in year 10 and above to undertake the many life skill opportunities on offer to them
- Provide Direct 1-1 support for children and young people
- Arranging activities, days out and workshops for our children and birth children
- Forge close and productive working relationships with colleagues, Foster Parents, external professionals and multi-agency networks
- Attendance at meetings with professionals from Education, Health and Social Services sectors to support our Children and Young People’s care plans
- Maintain clear records
- Be aware of, and take responsibility for staying up to date with professional practice standards, legislation and company policy including confidentiality, GDPR, safeguarding, equality, diversity and inclusion
- Support ACS staff with placements/education inputting key data information.
About You
- A passion for and experience of supporting children and young people to reach their full potential
- An understanding of the challenges faced by the children and young people in our care
- Ability to work and travel across the West Midlands and other regions
- Desire to implement and drive new ideas and initiatives that will support and compliment the services that we offer
- Have professional childcare experience, preferably with Fostering or Fostering sector experience or the ability to demonstrate Fostering knowledge and interest
- Ideally possess a relevant qualification or evidence of formal training in childcare, childhood studies, education, social work, youth work, community work and/or psychology
- Can demonstrate previous experience of building strong rapports with adults and children with an array of different needs and expectations
- Able to remain calm when under pressure and when dealing with difficult or confrontational behaviour
- Intermediate IT skills to include Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint) and databases
- Have a full driving licence
We are a family of independent fostering agencies, all with our own individual areas of expertise, but with one shared vision. We want to give children across the country who have had a difficult start in life, the support they need to build themselves a stronger and happier future. For our Foster Parents, we provide a close network of support that becomes like a second family.
For more information about this post please contact Kulvinder Kaur Sahota, Manager in Process of Registration on 07970 081 374
To be considered, please apply and we will be in touch.
No agencies please.
Active Care Solutions is an equal opportunities employer and has been awarded the disability confident employer by the jobcentre plus. The successful applicant will be subject to a DBS check at enhanced level if successful for the position.
