Adoption and Fostering Panel Vice Chair

About Us: 
Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. 

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents. 

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment. 

About the role:
Do have you experience chairing professional meetings? Are you passionate about ensuring children, who cannot live with their birth families, can grow up in happy and safe environments? Do you have experience, professionally or personally, of adoption and fostering? Are you confident in working with professionals of all levels and members of the public?

We at the London Borough of Waltham Forest are looking for a Vice Chair to join our Adoption and Fostering Panel, which meets twice a month. The majority of our work is fostering but we continue to hold the adoption function of considering plans for relinquishment to adoption. We would welcome applications from diverse backgrounds and experience of adoption and fostering personally or professionally.

The Person
The post holder will be able to demonstrate expertise and up to date knowledge of the legislative framework for Adoption and Fostering and bring a comprehensive understanding of current legislation in Fostering and know the Fostering and National Minimum Standards, and relevant up to date national qualitative research.

You will have relevant experience of Adoption and Fostering Panels, have been a Panel Member, Vice or Chair of Fostering Panels who is competent or brings the relevant lived experience of Fostering. You should demonstrate your empathy and evidence your ability to ensure Panels functions smoothly and within an equality and anti-discriminatory practice framework.

Key Responsibilities:
- To chair Panel meetings, ensuring that all items of business are covered, and the Panel operates in accordance with Regulations and Guidance and the Policies and Procedures of the Agency.
- To prepare for Panel meetings, reading Panel papers carefully, identifying key issues and alerting the Agency Adviser if necessary to ensure, as far as possible, that the case is adequate for submission to Panel.
- To facilitate the active participation of all Panel members in contributing to the Panel’s consideration of cases and to the making of clear and well-evidence recommendations with the reasons for these.
- To ensure that all those attending Panel are treated with respect and courtesy.
- To address diversity issues and to promote anti-discriminatory practice at all times.
- To ensure that clear and accurate minutes are written, in which record any serious reservations which Panel members may have, and to be involved in checking draft minutes before they are sent to the Decision-Maker and to the next Panel meeting.
- To liaise with the Decision-Maker and with other Senior Managers as required.
- To attend Adoption Business meetings quarterly and Head of Service meetings as required.
- To ensure, with the Agency Adviser, that Senior Managers are aware of issues of concern, in relation to both individual cases and to more general matters.
- To be involved in the recruitment and appointment of new Panel members and in any consideration about terminating the appointment of a Panel member.
- To review, with the Agency Adviser, the performance of Panel members as the need arises, and at least annually.
- To assist in developing and promoting and monitoring Policies and Procedures and high standards of work in Adoption and Permanence Services in the Agency.
- To assist in planning training for Panel members and to participate in this at least one day per year.
- To safeguard the confidentiality of all Panel papers and Panel discussions.
- To be involved in:
- deciding whether a case is adequate for submission to panel;
- deciding on the attendance of observers at Panel.
- deciding on the participation of Panel member who declares an interest in a case;
- deciding when an extra Panel may be necessary;
- the preparation of an Annual Report on the Panel’s work.

Qualifications and Requirements:
Experience and qualifications:
- Experience, either professionally or personally or both, of the placement of children in foster families and of children being cared for away from their birth family.
- Experience of chairing complex meetings.

Terms and conditions:
The below terms and conditions apply to this role:
- Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with children and/ or vulnerable adults;
- Satisfactory DBS check;

As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

Contact Information:
If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Kirstan McConkey at kirstan.mcconkey@walthamforest.gov.uk

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk