Location
Laurence House, Catford, London, SE6 4RU. Hybrid working approach with a combination of office and home working on a regular basis.

Hours
Full Time

Salary
£41,739 - £43,014 per annum (SO1). All appointments will be offered at the minimum spinal column point (SCP) for the grade of the role, except where matching current salary (up to the maximum of the scale) with evidential proof.

About the Role
Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities. We are proud to be the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary, championing the rights of refugees and migrants.

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, 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. 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 offer 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, and supportive staff networks.

Experience
- Experience working within fostering, children's social care, or safeguarding services is essential.
- Substantial experience within children's social care, fostering, or looked-after children's services.
- Experience within a fostering duty, placements, or fostering support service is highly desirable.

About you
- Strong understanding of fostering regulations, safeguarding, child protection, and looked-after children's legislation.
- Excellent assessment, risk management, and decision-making skills.
- Ability to manage competing priorities in a busy duty environment.
- Strong partnership-working and relationship-building skills.
- Commitment to delivering high-quality, child-centred services.

Qualifications
- Enhanced DBS clearance is required.
- Professional qualifications relevant to fostering or children's social care are implied but not explicitly stated.