Role: Qualified Social Worker
Team: Fostering Team
Location: Bridgend County Borough Council
Pay Rate: £35.00 per hour
Contract: Full-Time, Ongoing
Requirements: Must be registered with Social Care Wales
Are you an experienced children's practitioner who understands that supporting foster carers is the key to unlocking better outcomes for looked-after children?
Bridgend County Borough Council is looking for a dedicated and resilient Qualified Social Worker to join their established Fostering Team. Offering a highly competitive rate of £35.00 per hour, this position is a fantastic opportunity to step away from high-crisis frontline safeguarding and focus on placement stability, regulatory compliance, and therapeutic carer support.
Key Responsibilities
As a Fostering Social Worker, you will manage a caseload focused on the recruitment, supervision, and retention of high-quality foster placements:
Supervision & Support: Provide regular, reflective supervision to a designated patch of foster carers, ensuring they feel supported, equipped, and confident to manage complex behaviors.
Annual Reviews & Compliance: Conduct robust annual foster carer reviews and compliance checks in line with the Fostering Services (Wales) Regulations and National Minimum Standards.
Form F Assessments: Complete comprehensive, analytical Form F or kinship assessments for prospective carers, presenting your findings confidently to the fostering panel.
Safeguarding & Stability: Work closely with the child's primary Social Worker to monitor placement stability, investigate any standards-of-care concerns, and implement proactive support plans.
Mandatory Candidate Criteria
To comply with statutory frameworks within Wales, all applicants must meet the following baseline requirements:
Professional Registration: You MUST hold an active registration with Social Care Wales to practice.
Fostering or Childcare Background: Strong post-qualifying experience within a local authority Fostering, Kinship, or statutory Children's Social Care setting.
Report Writing Skills: Excellent analytical writing skills with proven experience handling complex statutory documentation.
Mobility: A full UK driving license with access to a vehicle for essential community-based home visits.
Why Choose Bridgend?
Competitive Earning Power: Secure a reliable, premium Welsh regional rate of £35.00 per hour.
Work-Life Balance: Benefit from manageable hybrid working arrangements, giving you the flexibility to write up your assessments from home while coordinating your visits.
Supportive Infrastructure: Join a team that prioritizes regular clinical management guidance, ensuring you are never left to make difficult decisions in isolation.
Fast-Track Your Profile
The team in Bridgend is looking to arrange interviews immediately. Bypass the generic job board queues and let Randstad deliver your CV directly to the hiring manager.
Randstad Care acts as an employment business when supplying temporary staff and as an employment agency when introducing candidates for permanent employment with a client. Randstad Care is an equal opportunities employer and decisions are made on merits alone.
Did you know that Randstad Care have been awarded a place on the National Clinical Staffing Framework for the NHS? This means we will be able to bring you more opportunities within nursing & midwifery and clinical staffing.
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