Weston-super-Mare (On-Site)
Fee - £150 per panel to include £75 reading fee and £75 attendance fee.
This is NOT a North Somerset Council vacancy, please contact Harriet Johnstone, Panel Advisor for further details.
Frequency – Panel meetings are fortnightly, in person, on a Wednesday, 9-2pm. Occasionally panel runs virtually via Microsoft Teams.
Commitment – Panel members are expected to attend at least 75% of meetings annually including panel training and quarterly business meetings.
North Somerset Council is looking to recruit Independent Fostering Panel Members for their foster panel in Weston Super Mare. The fostering panel provides independent oversight of the recruitment, assessment and review of foster carers and connected person/kinship carers; you will draw on your personal and professional knowledge and experience and make reasoned recommendations on applicants/carers suitability to foster. You will be committed to anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice.
Good listening and communication skills are essential along with the ability to make an assessment based on the written and oral information presented to the panel, in order to make a recommendation in a balanced and informed way.
Applicants should have experience either professionally, personally or both of the placement of children in foster families, or of children being away from their birth family. This can include work in; social care, education, health, as a foster carer or having personal experience of being looked after.
A number of groups are under-represented in our workforce, so we particularly welcome applicants from minority backgrounds, LGBTQIA+, foster carers, care experienced adults, people with disabilities and more, so that our fostering panel better reflects the diversity of the community we serve.
North Somerset Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and we expect all employees to share this commitment and undertake appropriate checks. Successful applicants will be required to undertake relevant DBS checks.
Due to the requirement for panel to be independent from the Local Authority we regret that we cannot accept applications from current or previous North Somerset Foster Carers.
For an informal chat please contact Harriet Johnstone, Panel Advisor – harriet.johnstone@n-somerset.gov.uk
If you wish to apply, please read the Job Description and person specification and send a CV and covering letter stating how you meet the job description and person specification to – harriet.johnstone@n-somerset.gov.uk
Closing date for application is 3rd June, 2025, with interviews planned for 17th and 18th June.