I have a Bachelors degree in Social Work, and am registered with SACSSP. I am currently not working as I just relocated from the United Kingdom. I was working for Kent County Council and Accessible Care (in the evening and weekends). I have an up to date DBS check. I qualified in South Africa at the University of KwaZulu Natal. As part of Social Work degrees, there was a heavy focus on Child Development and Attachment Theories, which are regularly put to use in my current role as a Fostering Social Worker. The majority of my experience is in Fostering both in South Africa and in the UK, I worked for the Department of Social Development for 6 years and relocated to the United Kingdom where I worked as a fostering social worker for 3 years. I also worked as a carer during after hours and weekends. I was working with mental health aged people. I did Care Certificates. Social Development offered Therapeutic Foster Care as well as direct work in the community whose children had been removed or placed in foster care or orphaned children . I was a social worker and held a fostering case load and a family case load. The fostering role focused on ensuring the children were being taken care of appropriately, ensuring their educational needs were being met, enrolling them in activities and organizations to help build up their confidence and self-esteem, and ensuring their voices were heard. I supported the foster carers to meet the children’s needs, and to use behavioural management strategies to improve challenging behaviour. The family role included working with birth parents whose children had been removed and helping them to meet the court requirements in order to work towards reunification. This involved working with families who struggled with substance abuse, homelessness, poor mental health, poverty, and unemployment. I helped them access resources and community organizations to address some of these issues, and provided assessments and progress reports to the court. I have been working for Kent County Council in the West Kent Fostering Team since July 2016. This involves support and supervision of foster carers in order to promote placement stability for the children in their care. I hold ongoing supervision meetings with my carers, attend professional meetings about the child, investigate complaints and allegations, and attend panel. I am the lead Fostering Social Worker for carers on the Therapeutic Re-Parenting Scheme in North and West Kent. This scheme matches some of our most challenging children to highly skilled carers who receive extra support, including monthly network meetings with a clinical psychologist, and a specialist support group for TRP. These carers commit to two years work with each child in an effort to help them overcome their trauma and live safely within a regular fostering family. In addition, my role also includes Duty work to match children to carers who can meet their needs, and Out of Hours work to support carers and make emergency placements outside of regular business hours. I am also the team lead on the Child Sexual Exploitation forum. I am aware of relevant legislation, and of course always work within that. I stay up to date with policies and procedures through team meetings, newsletters, and correspondence. I am accountable to my work, and always work with the best interests of the child in mind. I seek advice and guidance from team members, senior practitioners, and team managers, and work closely with the children’s social workers and other professionals to ensure a holistic approach to each case. I am able to get along easily with the people around me, and always keep a calm approach, particularly when challenging practice or discussing areas of improvement. I focus on strengths whenever possible, and encourage my carers to do the same when discussing their children. I help my carers develop their knowledge in order to give themselves a good understanding of the reasons behind the many challenging behaviours they face. My communication is clear, both written and oral. I am confident speaking in meetings and reviews, and will advocate for my carers and the children in their care. I keep up to date records and ensure my reports are clear and to the point. I have been commended at Panel on my reports being comprehensive but concise. I value diversity in the workplace, and believe that people from different backgrounds see different perspectives in a case, which is an essential aspect of a well-rounded professional team.