Family Practitioner - Fostering Support, Care Resources

We are seeking an experienced, motivated, and compassionate Fostering Duty Worker to join our In-House Fostering Service. This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled practitioner with experience in fostering, children's social care, or safeguarding services, who is committed to improving outcomes for children and young people. You will play a key role in providing a responsive duty service, supporting foster carers, children, families, social workers, and partner agencies.

We are looking for someone with strong assessment and decision‑making skills, excellent communication, and the ability to work effectively in a fast‑paced environment. What's the role? … Reporting to the Team Manager, you will provide high-quality duty and placement coordination support to the fostering service. As the first point of contact for fostering enquiries, you will offer advice, guidance, and practical support to foster carers and professionals, helping to promote placement stability and positive outcomes for children.

Key responsibilities include:

• Coordinating and matching foster placements.
• Managing duty enquiries and responding to urgent placement requests.
• Facilitating emergency placement searches.
• Supporting foster carers with advice and guidance.
• Working collaboratively with social workers and partner agencies.
• Ensuring placement decisions are child‑centred, informed by assessment, and compliant with statutory requirements and best practice.

We are looking for a professional who has:

• Experience working within fostering, children's social care, or safeguarding services.
• A strong understanding of fostering regulations, safeguarding, child protection, and looked‑after children's legislation.
• Excellent assessment, risk management, and decision‑making skills.
• The ability to manage competing priorities in a busy duty environment.
• Strong partnership‑working and relationship‑building skills.
• A commitment to delivering high‑quality, child‑centred services., Enhanced DBS clearance is required.
• Substantial experience within children's social care, fostering, or looked‑after children's services is essential.
• Experience with in a fostering duty, placements, or fostering support service is highly desirable.

Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities!

Introduction

We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK's first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants.

Excellent training and development opportunities, plus a range of benefits including:

• Generous holiday allowance
• Local Government Pension scheme
• Flexible working and family friendly policies
• Season ticket and bicycle loans
• A range of staff discounts including local subsidised gym memberships
• Supportive staff networks