Fostering Team Manager

Team: Fostering Team - Corporate Parenting Service
Job Family: Enabling M – CBG13

Salary: £51,471 - £55,585 per annum plus Standard MRS £4,600 per annum
Hours: 37 hours per week
Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per month.
Contract Type: Hybrid - Permanent
Closing Date: 24th May 2026
Interview Date: w/c 1st June 2026

About the role

Here in Central Bedfordshire, we have ambitious and exciting plans to continue shaping how we work with families and their children. Following the successful launch of our dedicated Kinship Care Team last year, we are continuing to grow and strengthen our Fostering Service as a key contributor to permanence, stability and belonging for children.

Relationship‑based practice sits at the heart of everything we do. We work alongside children, families and their natural networks to build on strengths, resolve difficulties and support safe, loving family arrangements wherever possible. One of the carers we support emphasised the significance and importance of this team: "I can’t emphasise enough how important this service is for us", it’s nice to know children and carers are celebrated".

We are immensely proud of our workforce and their dedication to our children. If you are passionate, creative and committed to achieving outstanding outcomes, we would love to hear from you.

The Role:

We are seeking to recruit a Fostering Team Manager – Kinship Care, an exciting opportunity to join a committed, reflective and supportive management team who firmly believe that children are at the centre of everything we do.

The Kinship Care Team sits within our Fostering Service, a dynamic and growing area of Central Bedfordshire’s Corporate Parenting offer. This role is integral to the continued development of high‑quality assessment, supervision and support for friends and family carers, ensuring children experience safe, stable and nurturing care within their wider family networks.

You will play a key role in ensuring kinship care is embedded as part of a whole‑system, preventative and relational approach, working closely with colleagues across:

• Family Network and Family Group Decision‑Making services.
• Family Help,
• Early Years services.
• Mediation.
• The Virtual School.
• Children’s Social Care, Legal Services and partner agencies.

As a Team Manager, you will:

• Provide strong professional leadership, direction and motivation to a team of qualified social workers and other professionals.
• Ensure kinship assessments, supervision and support offers are robust, proportionate, timely and child‑centred.
• Champion the role of family networks in achieving safe and sustainable permanence.
• Embed mediation and strengths‑based family decision‑making to support placement stability and lifelong relationships.
• Work collaboratively with Family Help and Early Years services to ensure early, preventative and responsive support for children and carers.
• Maintain strong oversight and partnership with the Virtual School to promote educational engagement, stability and achievement for children in kinship care.
• Embed relationship‑based, strengths‑led and reflective practice across the team.
• Contribute to service development, quality assurance and continuous improvement within the Fostering and Corporate Parenting Services.

You will have significant opportunities to further develop your leadership skills, supported by structured learning, training and a highly experienced senior leadership team.

About you

You will be:

• A registered social worker with a minimum of five years’ post‑qualifying experience working with children in care.
• Experienced in leading, supervising or supporting social work practice.
• Confident in providing clear professional oversight, while promoting learning, curiosity and reflective supervision.
• Skilled in working collaboratively across services and systems to promote joined‑up, child‑focused practice.
• Committed to achieving the very best outcomes for children, young people and their families.

Central Bedfordshire Council is proud to support the wellbeing, development and progression of its workforce. We offer:

• Access to training in Systemic Practice and Motivational Interviewing.
• Support to complete Practice Educator qualifications.
• Support to undertake a post‑qualifying MSc in Child and Family Social Work.
• Regular individual and group supervision.
• Supportive managers, senior leaders and strong peer networks.
• Manageable caseloads, enabling high‑quality, relational and meaningful social work.

Our Offer 

We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page  

Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer.  We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process. 

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You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack. 

Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack. 

For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Allyce Copley at allyce.copley4@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or call 0300 300 6199

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Safeguarding: 

Central Bedfordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees, volunteers and contractors to share this commitment. This post is subject to the disclosure of criminal records.   

To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline. 

Our National Careers Service team offer a free monthly workshop covering CV writing and how to complete the statement sections of the Central Bedfordshire Council online application form. This MS Teams workshop is open to anyone from the UK and lasts around 1.5 hours.  Please book your place here. 

More information about this service can be found here: Support getting into work or learning | Central Bedfordshire Council 

Please note we are unable to offer sponsorship for our roles. Successful applicants that may require a visa will need to consider the options for obtaining and/or maintaining the legal right to live and work in the UK for the duration of the contract offered.