Social Worker (Adoption & Fostering)

Job Advert

We are proud to have a workforce with values that promote human rights, social justice and professional integrity. We recognise the importance of diversity within our organisation that reflects the communities we serve.

A fantastic opportunity has arisen for an experienced and motivated Social Worker to join our busy Family Placement Team. This team is responsible for recruiting, assessing and supporting kinship and foster carers to care for children and young people on a full time and short break basis.

You will support the Family Placement Team in its delivery of the Promise and Closer to Home Strategy. You will support the recruitment of foster carers across Falkirk by taking a lead role in the assessment of carers and work closely alongside fostering applicants and colleagues across Children’s Services to complete Form F assessments within clear timescales. Strong communication and assessment skills will be essential for this task to ensure that interested parties are recruited in line with service needs.

You will be responsible for managing a caseload of assessments. At times this may include the assessment of kinship carers. A creative and flexible approach will be required to meet with prospective carers out with normal working hours to complete assessments within agreed timescales.

The Council is ambitious in its vision to increase local foster carer availability to meet a wide range of needs. You will be required to use a creative and strength-based approach to maximise recruitment opportunities. In this post, a good understanding of the experiences of looked after children and their families is essential. Therefore, we would encourage applications from care experienced individuals, or experienced children and family social workers.

Supervision and support with be provided on a regular basis from a manager within the Family Placement Team. You will be required to maintain SSSC registration. You should be mobile across the council area and show commitment to your continuous development. You should have a degree or diploma in Social Work.

We have a dynamic and forward-thinking workforce, who are committed to make a positive difference for people accessing services and living in our communities. Trauma informed, relationships and strengths based social work sits at the heart of our practice.

We promote a culture where all our people feel valued, included and able to be their best at work. This supports our mission to be recognised as a learning organisation promoting openness, creativity, and experimentation across the workforce.

We work hard to develop our staff and expose them to a wide range of opportunities. We encourage our workforce to acquire and share knowledge, information, and resources. We nurture innovation, including service co-design that’s shaped by lived experiences and we provide freedom to try new things, to risk failure and to learn from both mistakes, and promising and good practice.

We are proud to offer:

• Supportive team structure
• Time for reflective supervision
• A culture where your voice matters and opportunities are available to shape how we work together as a team, service and across the Council and partnerships.
• Bespoke training and a range of career development opportunities
• Generous annual leave and mobile /flexible working supporting work life balance.
• Competitive salaries
• Local Government pension scheme and employee benefits and rewards scheme

This post is temporary until September 2025 due to service requirement.

You will be required to gain/maintain PVG scheme membership.

For an informal discussion please contact Alma Cope alma.cope@falkirk.gov.uk or Laura Lowrie laura.lowrie@falkirk.gov.uk