Specialist fostering Team

In Sheffield, we are deeply committed to fostering stable, loving homes for children and young people who need them most. Our ambition is simple but powerful: to ensure every child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment where they can thrive. As part of this commitment, Sheffield are investing further in expanding their Fostering Service, including an additional Mainstream Fostering Service Manager and a Specialist Fostering Scheme.

The Specialist Fostering Scheme will provide homes for children and young people who have had adverse experiences from trauma or difficult childhood experiences and who may otherwise live in residential children’s homes. These needs may include emotional or behavioural difficulties, trauma-related challenges, disabilities, risk of criminality or exploitation or a history of placement instability. Within the scheme, carers will receive enhanced training, supervision, and professional support so they can offer stable, therapeutic, and nurturing environments tailored to each child’s individual circumstances.

We are looking to recruit an Advanced Social Work Practitioner for the Specialist Team. We are looking for practitioners who are passionate about fostering, permanence, and building strong support systems around children and their carers. This role will play a pivotal role in the development and implementation of the Specialist Scheme, alongside delivering high-quality social work assessment and practice. The Advanced Social Work Practitioner will work with complex cases, ensuring that children are matched with the right homes and that foster carers are fully supported to provide stable, nurturing care, whilst developing a culture of reflective practice and shared learning across the team.

You will:

Provide a pivotal role in the initial and ongoing development and implementation of the Specialist Scheme

Undertake complex casework, supporting and sustaining fostering arrangements for children

Complete risk assessments and safeguarding investigations

Work closely with foster carers, helping them build confidence, resilience, and skills

Collaborate effectively within a multi-agency environment

Provide mentoring, coaching, and reflective support to colleagues

About You

You will be:

A qualified and experienced social work practitioner, with extensive knowledge and practical experience of fostering and registered with Social Work England.

Experience in trauma-informed and/or attachment-based practice.

Experience of offering intensive, reflective supervision to therapeutic foster carers to manage challenging behaviours.

Experience of working alongside child psychologists and professionals to implement tailored therapeutic plans.

Be highly skilled in safeguarding and risk assessment

Be passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people

Committed to working in partnership with foster carers and supporting their development

Interviews will be held face to face: w/c 8^th June 2026

For further information or an informal discussion, please contact clare.robinson@sheffield.gov.uk

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.

It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application.

Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form. Sometimes, if lots of people apply, we might not be able to interview everyone who qualifies for the Guarantee. In these cases, we’ll interview the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job.

Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.

If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade.

Equality of pay is extremely important to us. All roles at Sheffield City Council are going through an evaluation process which may result in changes to some pay arrangements from 2026. Find out more on our Sheff news page.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyone and where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.