POLARIS

REFERRALS OFFICER - FOSTERING

Basic Salary: Up to £22,000 per annum

Hours: 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday

Contract: Fixed Term until June 2025

Location: Office Based - Sittingbourne, Kent

Benefits: 30 days' Annual Leave + Bank Holidays, Company Pension, Life Assurance x2, Employee Discount Scheme, Medical Cash Plan & Free On-Site Parking

ABOUT US

We are Polaris, one of the UK's largest leading communities of children's service providers.

Within the community, we have independent fostering and adoption agencies who have been passionately improving the lives of young people for over 30 years, as well as Leaving Care services, Education and bespoke children's services contracts. Our nurturing community works collectively to support the very best outcomes for each and every child in our care. We're ambitious for our children and young people, families and staff, and believe in their futures.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

As a Referrals Officer, you will manage referrals received from Local Authorities and use key information and matching criteria to ensure that placements are carefully matched according to children's needs. You will have the ability to work independently and able to use your initiative to find creative solutions to foster placement requests.

The Referrals officer role is the first point of contact between Local Authorities, foster families and Social Workers. You will be able develop positive relationships with colleagues and be confident communicating with professionals at all levels. It would be beneficial to have experience of working within the children's services sector or similar and be able to evidence your administration skills, ability to follow regulatory policies and processes and the ability to work well within a fast paced team. Full training will be provided.

We are a family of independent fostering agencies, all with our own individual areas of expertise, but with one shared vision. We want to give children across the country who have had a difficult start in life, the support they need to build themselves a stronger and happier future. For our Foster parents, we provide a close network of support that becomes like a second family.

Role responsibilities

• Responsible for all foster family vacancies, and the key lead, point of contact for named agencies within the Polaris Community
• Monitor and record foster family vacancies
• Weekly calls with all families on the vacancy list and update recording system (CHARMS) accordingly
• Process all requests in a 15 minutes response time to match a referral received from the Local Authority to a foster family with a vacancy and put them forward to the Local Authority for consideration
• Establish and maintain relationships with Local Authorities and Commissioning Teams by adopting an outward facing culture
• Maintain a solution focused attitude in overcoming barriers to making referrals
• Report a daily snapshot of any developments in the referrals pipeline, new referrals and carer vacancies, together with any blockages to referrals which may arise.

Requirements

• To be methodical and able to prioritise workload
• To confidently liaise with Local Authority Commissioning Managers/Officers Placement Teams and Access to Resources Team about matching and finances
• To be invested in Polaris Community - Referrals and the Agencies ISP, Orange Grove, Fosterplus and Clifford House Fostering and their ethos' and cultures - to be determined to make sound, safe matches in a timely manner
• Be wholly invested in maximising the conversion of referrals to well matched placements with available foster parents - the utilisation rates. Adhering to the Company's Policies and Procedures
• To be able to carry out administrative tasks such as screening and logging of referrals received from Local Authorities
• The successful candidate will be required to complete an enhanced DBS Check, cost of which will be met by ISP School Teynham.
• The successful candidate will be required to complete an enhanced DBS Check, cost of which will be met by Polaris

The successful candidate will be required to complete a standard DBS Check, cost of which will be met by Polaris

Polaris is an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates.

Polaris is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment