Enjoy thoughtful conversations, helping people learn and discovering what they could bring to a child’s life? We’re looking for independent social workers to join our growing Weekenders Programme, undertaking initial home visits and delivering prep group training. Bring your experience and curiosity to a small charity with big ambitions for children.

THE OPPORTUNITY

• Contract: Freelance, task-based work, with flexibility to choose the tasks you accept.

• Initial home visits: £250 per completed visit, including local travel.

• Prep group training: £375 per online training day. This fee includes delivering a full day of training, preparing to deliver it and writing up feedback for participants.

• Location: Home-based, with online training and in-person visits in your agreed programme areas.

• Flexibility: Availability agreed with you, including evening/ weekend visits and weekend training days.

About Now Foster

Now Foster brings together social work, service design, lived experience and innovation to open up fostering to more wonderful people. We want more children and young people to have stable, meaningful relationships with adults who keep showing up for them.

We’re a small, ambitious team that values warmth, creativity and learning together. We’re excited about helping more people discover what they could bring to fostering.

About Weekenders

Weekenders are weekend foster carers who build a lasting relationship with the same child, usually spending at least one weekend a month together. Shared meals, new experiences and everyday moments become opportunities for connection, joy and belonging. The child’s wellbeing and relationships are at the heart of the programme.

Where we’re recruiting

• North East: Local authorities in the Northeast Fostering Hub.

• South West: Local authorities in the Southwest Fostering Hub.

• London: Across all London local authorities, through the London RCC.

We’ll agree your geographical coverage with you. You can express interest in working in one or more of these areas.

What’s in it for you

Meaningful direct practice, flexible freelance work and a collaborative team. You’ll use our materials and digital tools, contribute your expertise and help shape our learning as the Weekenders Programme grows.

You choose which tasks to accept (home visits, training or great if you can do both), with no guaranteed minimum volume of work. We’ll agree availability and task requirements together.

THE ROLE

You’ll help prospective Weekenders explore their own motivations, recognise their strengths and think honestly about what fostering would mean in their lives. Through home visits and prep group training, you’ll support informed choices and provide thoughtful professional observations that contribute to assessment.

We work alongside applicants as experts in their own lives. Warmth and enthusiasm go hand in hand with honest conversations about the commitment involved in Weekending. Choosing to pause or step back can be a positive outcome too.

Initial Home Visits: Get to know the people behind the application

• Prepare for and arrange visits with prospective Weekenders, coordinating with their Journey Guide so people know what to expect.

• Explore motivation, caring experience, household circumstances, support networks and the practicalities of building a dependable relationship with a child.

• Consider the home environment, relevant safety issues and applicants’ understanding of children’s needs, identity and relationships. Use curious questions and respectful challenge to explore strengths and areas needing more thought.

• Produce clear, balanced reports using Now Foster’s platform and approved AI-enabled tools. Check every draft carefully and retain responsibility for the accuracy and professional judgement in your final report.

Prep Group Training: Help prospective carers learn and reflect together

• Prepare and deliver engaging sessions with a co-facilitator, using our curriculum and materials to bring the realities of fostering to life.

• Create a welcoming, inclusive learning environment where applicants can ask questions, explore different perspectives and connect learning with their own experiences.

• Help people reflect on children’s experiences, relationships, identity and culture, safer caring and the realities of working with fostering services.

• Write specific, balanced feedback on participants’ engagement, strengths and learning needs, and share ideas that make future groups even more useful.

Safe and Reflective Practice: Work with care and professional curiosity

• Use and develop Motivational Interviewing and other agreed relational approaches, keeping children’s needs at the centre of your work.

• Recognise, record and promptly escalate safeguarding concerns. Maintain professional boundaries, confidentiality and secure records.

• Work closely with Programme Managers and Journey Guides, meet agreed deadlines and welcome feedback through our quality-assurance process. The partner fostering service retains responsibility for assessment and approval decisions.

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

You’ll need a recognised social work qualification and current registration with Social Work England. We’re looking for practitioners who enjoy getting to know people, helping them think and bringing learning to life.

You’ll thrive in this role if you bring

• Children’s services experience – Relevant post-qualifying experience in fostering, children’s social care or a closely related setting, including assessment and safeguarding judgement.

• A relational approach – The ability to hold warm, purposeful conversations, listen closely and offer respectful challenge when it matters.

• Training confidence – Experience delivering adult learning, workshops or group training, with an inclusive approach to different experiences and learning needs.

• Thoughtful professional judgement – Clear, balanced report writing and the ability to distinguish evidence, professional analysis and questions that need further exploration.

• Digital confidence – Confidence learning digital systems, willingness to use our platform and approved AI-supported processes, and careful checking of reports.

• Reliability and organisation – The ability to manage accepted tasks, meet deadlines and communicate clearly with applicants and colleagues.

The way you work matters

You keep children’s safety and relationships at the heart of your work, recognise people’s strengths and respect their choices. You reflect on power, bias and inequality, welcome feedback and are willing to develop Motivational Interviewing and other relational skills.

We’d also welcome

• Lived experience of fostering or the care system, where you wish to draw on it.

• Experience of foster carer initial visits, assessments, preparation groups or support to approved carers.

• Training in Motivational Interviewing, systemic practice, trauma-informed care or the Secure Base model.

• A practice educator or adult-teaching qualification, or substantial relevant teaching experience.

You don’t need every desirable criterion. If the role excites you and you have a strong foundation in the essentials, we’d love to hear from you.

Our commitment to equality

We welcome all backgrounds, identities and experiences, use fair recruitment criteria and offer reasonable adjustments to support accessible recruitment and participation in the role.

Recruitment process

Applications close – 01/11/26 at 23:30

Interviews – online planned for w/c 09/11/26

Early application is encouraged. We may close the advert before 01/11/26 if we receive a sufficient number of strong applications.

How to apply

Please apply through the Charity Jobs listing by the closing date. Candidates invited to interview will receive further information about the format and preparation in advance.

You must have the right to work in the UK. Appointment is subject to current registration with Social Work England, a satisfactory Enhanced DBS check and our other safer recruitment requirements.

We recognise that candidates may use generative AI tools to support their application. This is acceptable, but your application must remain an authentic reflection of your own experience and motivation. Please tell us if and how you used AI as part of preparing it.

As a small charity unfortunately we do not have capacity to respond to unsuccessful candidates or offer feedback at the application stage. Please assume you have been unsuccessful on this occasion if you do not hear from us before the interview dates.