Hub Home Foster Carerrole Description and Person Specification
Hub Home Foster CarerRole Description and Person Specification
A Hub Home carer is an approved Foster Carer who is the central point in a network of fostering families – known as a Mockingbird constellation. The Hub Home carer will provide planned and emergency care to the children and young people within the foster homes they support. This will include overnight care as well as providing planned and emergency back up support for the children’s main carers.
The Hub Home carer is at the heart of the community – providing support and leadership to adults and young people alike. As well as the care of the children and young people, they provide emotional support and guidance to the foster carers and families within their fostering community. This support is both formal and informal, and includes hosting and arranging planned social events, monthly constellation meetings and personal development opportunities for satellite carers.
The carer will be supported by their liaison worker in carrying out this role. Together they will form a partnership to identify and support the needs of their fostering community. By working together, they will get to know the children, young people and adults in their community and support them to have fun and thrive.
The fostering community will consist of no more than 11 families including the hub home carer.
Knowledge and experience
Approved foster carer or available immediately to undergo Form F fostering assessment E
Working knowledge of the Fostering Regulations 2011 D
Knowledge of why children come into local authority careE
Experience of the services Children in Care can access E
Ability to provide advice,guidance and support to others in accessing servicesE
Experience of working with the ‘team around the child’D
Experience of working with a range of children with differing needs and ages E
An awareness of other cultural and religious practices or an openness to learning theseE
Knowledge of when confidential information should be sharedD
Experience of supporting contact with birth family members D
Experience of being able to use the supervisory relationship as a reflective processD
Skills
Good negotiation and diplomacy skillsE
Ability to provide consistent substitute care, whilst promoting the role of the primary carerE
Ability to develop partnerships with primary carers to provide consistent care that meets the
child’s needsE
Ability to support children and young people to make relationships within their fostering
CommunityE
Exceptional organisational skillsE
Good written and oral communication skillsE
A commitment to maintaining regular contact with your fostering community and Liaison
Worker E
An ability to identify and act upon risk, taking action to inform relevant professionals and
CarersE
Ability to organise and deliver social events for children, young people and adultsE
Ability to care for 2 children at one time and meet the completing needs of those individuals E
Ability to deescalate situations and provide a space where solutions are possibleE
Ability to advocate for the needs of othersD
Attributes
An ability to embrace diversity and practice in a non-discriminatory mannerE
An understanding of birth family’s difficulties, having a non-judgemental approach E
A desire to be a leader of a community and to open your home to provide a warm and
welcoming place for children and adults.E
Being enthusiastic and passionate about the Mockingbird model of care E
An ability to manage high pressured situations and crisisE
An ability to engage equally well with adults and childrenE
An ability to face fresh challenges with enthusiasm and a sense of humourD
A willingness to prioritise the contact needs of childrenD
An ability to support children to talk about their feelings, including feelings around contact with family, recognising when information needs to be shared D
Flexibility – an ability to manage when plans changeD
Being empathetic and self-reflective. Having positive regard and a strengths-based approach tosituations and people D
A willingness to learn and develop selfD
Practical requirements
To have 2 spare bedrooms or one spare bedroom and a spare bed in an appropriate space within the home. (Waltham Forest will work with an identified carer on this)
We acknowledge that, when written down, this sounds like an incredibly demanding role! But it’s a bit like trying to write a role description for a parent. We are seeking a person or people who will be able to support a community of foster carers to replicate a big extended family. Hub home carers currently taking on the role in other local authorities across the country are hugely passionate about the role and are enjoying the unique support they are able to offer to the children, young people and adults in their community.
If you’re interested in the role and would like to talk directly to another hub home carer who is already leading a Mockingbird constellation then we can put you in touch.
In return you will receive:
- An annual fee of £26,780 plus an allowance for each child during the time that you are caring for them.
- Initial and ongoing training
- Liaison Worker support
- One day off a week and one weekend off a month.
And you will be at the heart of a community that can provide support for its members
To find out more about the role and the Mockingbird model watch this short film produced by The Fostering Network