Placements and Referrals Administrator
1. What is your job title?
My job title is “Administrator - Placements and Referrals”
2. Which region do you work in?
I work in the Bolton office which covers the whole of the North West region
3. What does your role involve?
My role in placements and referrals team is to liaise with all Local Authorities across the North West and assist them in finding a suitable foster home for looked after children. When searching for a family we must always work closely with our Supervising Social Workers to discuss matching needs for the child as well as local authority staff to ensure that the move for the child is made successfully without any problems. Before a child is placed we ensure that our foster carers have all the information they would need for the child and also discussing the needs of transporting a child to and from school or contact. We always keep on top of each referral, informing the relevant local authority if we can provide a suitable family or not, this helps us to maintain a good relationship with the local authorities.
As an administrator for the team I also deal with the paperwork which needs to be completed after every move for a looked after child, including children who return back home to live with family or when moving to another carer with Fostering Solutions.
We also produce daily, weekly and monthly statistics to our Service Managers to show the numbers of children that were placed and children that moved onto another family or if returning back home.
4. What opportunities have you had since beginning work at Fostering Solutions?
I started working for Fostering Solutions in Sept 2002 as an Office Junior. I started straight after high school wanting to complete my NVQ Level 2 in Administration. This course involved me working for 4 days and 1 day to attend college. Fostering Solutions were very flexible in my working hours and allowed me the time that I needed to complete my course. After I completed this course I was given the full time work employment as a Junior Administrator.
I decided to continue with Level 3, which Fostering Solutions encouraged me to complete. They allowed me the time to attend for any day courses involved and time out to take my exam papers. This took me 8 months to complete.
When I initially started we were based in a very small office where there was only 3 other office based staff. Since then the organisation has grown so much in a short length of time and I have had a chance to work for a lot of different departments.
5. Why would you recommend Fostering Solutions as a good place to work?
Working for Fostering Solutions is absolutely fantastic, especially for people who love working together as a team. At the North West office every department has their own team but as a whole organisation everyone works together and that’s the thing I like most. There is a very friendly atmosphere which helps when you have a hectic day, and very approachable staff for when there is ever a problem or you have a question.
Fostering Solutions always encourages staff with further training, including both internal and external courses and would allow you the time to complete your course.
