Independent Fostering Panel Member

Overview

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking dedicated individuals to join our Fostering Panel as Independent Panel Members. This role offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on the lives of vulnerable children by ensuring they are placed in the best possible care.

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally. 

Buckinghamshire is an ambitious, rapidly growing county, and our economy is one of the strongest in the country. It is an area of outstanding natural beauty and ranks as one of the top rural areas to live in the UK and yet it is incredibly well connected– only an hour from London on the train. The county has a rich history and heritage and is the birthplace of the international Paralympic movement.

We are looking for motivated, ambitious and inspiring people to join us on our journey. You will be entitled to a range of different benefits to make sure you are happy both at work and at home.

About the role

As a Panel Member, you will play a key role in the fostering approval and review process, helping to ensure that decisions are made in the best interests of children and young people. You will work collaboratively with social work professionals, fostering teams, and other stakeholders to evaluate applications, review fostering cases, and make well-informed recommendations.

Key Responsibilities

• Participate actively in fostering panel meetings on a rota basis.
• Engage in Panel induction, attend mandatory training and ongoing annual training relevant to the role.
• Undertake an annual self-appraisal.
• Support the review and recommendation process for fostering cases, ensuring all decisions are made with a child-focused approach.
• Read Panel paperwork thoroughly before each meeting, prepare relevant questions, and contribute to discussions.
• Work collaboratively with the Panel Chair, Panel Advisor, Social Work professionals, fostering teams, and other key stakeholders.
• Ensure compliance with relevant legislation, policies, and procedures related to fostering and child welfare.
• Raise questions and concerns to support a thorough and careful decision-making process.
• Provide post-Panel feedback to the fostering service regarding practice and performance, escalating issues of concern as needed.
• Commit to challenging discrimination and promoting anti-discriminatory practices.
• Maintain confidentiality of Panel discussions and documents.

About you

Essential Skills & Experience:

• The ability to identify key issues, problems, and solutions.
• Strong analytical and decision-making skills, with the ability to contribute clearly and confidently to Panel discussions.
• A fair and transparent approach to assessing fostering applications, always prioritising the welfare of children.
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion.
• Confidence in respectfully challenging others while maintaining a child-focused approach.
• Some understanding of the fostering process, either through personal or professional experience.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills.
• No prior experience on fostering panels is required; however, transferable skills in social care, education, health, or legal services are highly valued.

If you are passionate about making a difference in the lives of children and young people, we would love to hear from you.

Other information

Location: Buckinghamshire

Contract Type: part-time / session-based

Remuneration:

• Half Day: £100
• Full Day: £200

For further details or an informal discussion about the role, please contact Joanne Parker at [email protected]

Join us in ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe, stable, and loving home.

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and encourage individuals with lived experience of fostering or adoption to apply.

Closing date: 23:59 Tuesday 15th April 2025.

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled ‘Exceptions Order’).

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Buckinghamshire is a successful, growing place with fantastic natural assets, a highly productive economy and many resourceful and thriving communities. However, we are far from complacent and our new and ambitious unitary authority is well placed to tackle the challenges associated with growth, an aging population, climate change and inequalities in both opportunities and outcomes – particularly for our children and young people.

Children’s Services is on an improvement journey and as our very recent Ofsted report shows, we have continued to improve despite the pressures of the pandemic and have built solid foundations for future success. Relationships with partners are strong and our collective response to the pandemic has strengthened and deepened our work together.

We have a big, ambitious agenda for Buckinghamshire, and our teams work collaboratively and at pace to make a positive difference to the lives of children and young people across the county.

We are looking for talented and driven individuals to help us achieve the best outcomes for our children, young people and families in Buckinghamshire. Our key priorities include continuing to protect vulnerable children and young people from harm, whilst sustaining an environment where social work practice can thrive. Through our vital work with our partners, including The Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Childrens Partnership, we continue to improve our collective response to children and young people who have been exposed to domestic abuse, exploitation, substance misuse and mental health issues.

No matter what role you take on in our Children’s services, you will be part of a team who is dedicated to supporting children and their families to achieve their full potential.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/