I would be grateful if anyone could provide me with the answers to the following interview questions as I have just been advised that I have been unsuccessful securing a Fostering post and these were the questions that let me down:
I was given a scenario...child advises that their carer is shouting at him and has smacked him..what do I do?
What is the relevance of the CWDC standards and how are they applied?
How would I support a reluctant foster carer to achieve their certificate?
Having had an extremely poor children and families placement at level 2, I am struggling with interview questions such as these. My last interview was with LAC and again struggled with:
What are the implications for social workers due to the Munro report?
What are the implications for social workers due to Ofsted report?
If I can learn from these experiences, hopefully if I get the opportunity for interview again, I will be in a better position to answer these questions?
I really appreciate any help?
1) The matter of child disclosing abuse should be reported to Children's Services Child Protection Team immediately they will make contact with the foster carers' support worker. The CP Team will take decisions as to what happens next, you need to inform your line manager asap. Possible actions include a CP enquiry following a referral to the CPU Child Protection Unit - Police, and referral to LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) This is out of your hands, a SW from the team will probably be asked to speak to the child out of the foster carers home. You may well be asked to look for an alternative placement whilst the CP investigation is taking place. There may be other children in the foster carer's care and their situation needs to be looked at. A medical and a Strategy Meeting may be arranged depending on what the child says.
2) The Child Workforce Development Council seek to join up the way different agencies work, and bring consistency to the way children and young people are listened to and looked after. They say they are the voice of employers and make sure their concerns, experiences and views directly influence workforce reform. Not really clear whether they would be involved in 1) sorry
3) The Munro Report highlighted the amount of time SWs are spending on paperwork and Medical whether there should be specalised training. you can get a summary on line.http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/community-care-editorial-comment/2011/02/highlights-of-munro-interim-report-executive-summary.html
4) Depends how the authority you are being interviewed by,and how they performed at the last OFSTED there will be recommendations and criticism, look it up.
Good luck next time
Ther was no job for you. They advertise just to meet the law but they had someon in their offices who was already working with them. You did not fail
Yes indeed I'm probably just getting over a job where some accomodated children had no named SW.- my mistake
Entener: Ther was no job for you. They advertise just to meet the law but they had someon in their offices who was already working with them. You did not fail
The story of my life recently.....it just keeps happening!! Feeling more and more disollusioned by the minute. I was just thinking to myself 'thats pretty much what I said'. In response to the question re carer hitting child, I said ensure the child is safe, speak to child, speak to health, discuss with supervisor, police, consider safety of other children within home, CP procedures may begin, starting with formulation meeting??
I am a bit stuck with the CWDC question though....who are the CWDC and what is their purpose?
Off their site ; The Child Workforce Development Council seek to join up the way different agencies work, and bring consistency to the way children and young people are listened to and looked after. They say they are the voice of employers and make sure their concerns, experiences and views directly influence workforce reform.
Stressed student: In response to the question re carer hitting child, I said ensure the child is safe, speak to child, speak to health, discuss with supervisor, police, consider safety of other children within home, CP procedures may begin, starting with formulation meeting??
In response to the question re carer hitting child, I said ensure the child is safe, speak to child, speak to health, discuss with supervisor, police, consider safety of other children within home, CP procedures may begin, starting with formulation meeting??
What's a 'formulation meeting'?
As the manager of a CP team, I'd say the right thing for a worker to do in this scenario would be to immediately advise their manager of the allegation and the allocated social worker of that child and that of any other child placed with them.
If the child is telling you stuff without your prompting or asking leading questions, that's one thing, but it's quite another for you to go ahead and investigate an allegation when there's a clear conflict of interest (as you are the social worker for the foster carer). It's the role of the allocated social worker for the child to ensure their welfare and your job is to assist them with this - likewise any investigation of the allegations should be led by them or their colleagues.
Moose42: Stressed student: In response to the question re carer hitting child, I said ensure the child is safe, speak to child, speak to health, discuss with supervisor, police, consider safety of other children within home, CP procedures may begin, starting with formulation meeting?? What's a 'formulation meeting'?
Sorry..forgeting myself...thats mental health!! A strategy meeting I mean.
I think I got very muddled with my answer as I was swopping from Fostering SW to CP SW. This is what happens when you don't really know what you are talking about?
Stressed student, hang in there, don't lose hope and keep on applying. I qualified last year and went for 5 interviews before I got my first and current job in a fostering team. At that time in November there were 8 social workers interviewed for 2 posts. We have just appointed two more social work posts, for which over 80 applications were received and 25 were interviewed- this is an indication of the level of competition for posts currently. But that doesn't make it impossible and sooner or later persistence will pay off.
The CWDC standards are competencies that all foster carers must demonstrate that they meet within 18 months after their initial approval- think the key roles that social workers have to meet in placements. The standards are evidenced through the competition of a workbook, using evidence from a variety of different sources such as training courses, practice, supervision notes, statements from different professionals with whom the foster carer has worked (eg. the child's social worker, school etc etc.) This produces a portfolio of evidence which is eventually signed off by an identified person (In our case it is our team manager), following which the carer gets a certificate.
Completion of the CWDC standards became mandatory by legislation on 1st April, meaning that established carers had to have completed them by this date. Newer carers have 18 months after approval to complete them- if this requirement is not met, then legally they can not foster. However many established carers have proved reluctant to comply with the requirements- they are confident that if they have a child placed with them, especially in a long-term placement, that the local authority will struggle/ be reluctant to move the child simply because the certificate has not been achieved. Hence your interview question 3- it's a real problem currently.
Incidentally, the standards are also frequently used when completing pre-approval assessments of prospective carers to identify that the minimum standard of care will be met and to identify any areas of training or development that the applicants will need.
Hope this helps.
Hi QueenB
Thank you so much for all that info...I can now see how ridiculous I must have sounded with my answers, although in my defence, how could I have known all this prior to the interview, having never worked in Fostering? I keep going back to the same comment, which is, if you havent been 'lucky' enough to have a decent placement in Childrens Services...you simply don't stand a chance, as there is bound to be someone interviewed who has all the info!
Just don't know what I'm going to do? I've tried applying for other jobs, such as school inclusion worker or drug worker, but can't even secure an interview!
Stressed student: I can now see how ridiculous I must have sounded with my answers, although in my defence, how could I have known all this prior to the interview, having never worked in Fostering?
I can now see how ridiculous I must have sounded with my answers, although in my defence, how could I have known all this prior to the interview, having never worked in Fostering?
I assume that for things like the questions on Munro Report and Ofsted, there was an assumption that anyone interested in a career in social work would have an idea of what was going on in their chosen profession and would have done some preparation for the interview. As a manager, I'd be very concerned if someone I was interviewing didn't have an idea about those issues, given how much they're talked about in Community Care for starters.
In terms of more specialist knowledge, again it's about preparation, particularly if you're trying to get your foot in a door when you don't already have the experience. For example, in relation to fostering, the BAAF website page on fostering would probably have given you enough information to at least start preparing for an interview as a fostering social worker.
It's worth getting feedback on your interviews as well, to see if they're picking up other things you haven't highlighted. Doing better interviews is a skill that can be learned, just like anything else.
Moose42: Stressed student: I can now see how ridiculous I must have sounded with my answers, although in my defence, how could I have known all this prior to the interview, having never worked in Fostering? I assume that for things like the questions on Munro Report and Ofsted, there was an assumption that anyone interested in a career in social work would have an idea of what was going on in their chosen profession and would have done some preparation for the interview. As a manager, I'd be very concerned if someone I was interviewing didn't have an idea about those issues, given how much they're talked about in Community Care for starters. In terms of more specialist knowledge, again it's about preparation, particularly if you're trying to get your foot in a door when you don't already have the experience. For example, in relation to fostering, the BAAF website page on fostering would probably have given you enough information to at least start preparing for an interview as a fostering social worker. It's worth getting feedback on your interviews as well, to see if they're picking up other things you haven't highlighted. Doing better interviews is a skill that can be learned, just like anything else.
Moose42....talk about making me feel worse than I already feel!!
You wouldn't believe the time that I have spent applying for, researching, understanding, travelling to interviews. Of course I looked at BAAF website and CWDC, but like I say, unless you can see how the processes work in practice, it is very difficult to obtain a full and rounded view. If it is that 'easy' to teach yourself Fostering at home...why have I just spent the last 3 years at university??...(where I obtained a 2:1 classification)
Stressed student: Of course I looked at BAAF website and CWDC, but like I say, unless you can see how the processes work in practice, it is very difficult to obtain a full and rounded view.
Of course I looked at BAAF website and CWDC, but like I say, unless you can see how the processes work in practice, it is very difficult to obtain a full and rounded view.
You seem to be contradicting yourself - earlier on in this thread you posted: "I am a bit stuck with the CWDC question though....who are the CWDC and what is their purpose?"
Even theoretical knowledge would have helped you out when it comes to scoring points in an interview (and there's nothing wrong with effectively saying 'this is the theory, I know how it works in practice may be different...' and going on from there); you don't have the practical experience, you're not going to get it between now and your next interview, so you're going to have to make up for it somehow...
Stressed student, I had spent approximately 6 half- weeks in the fostering team during my first placement- a total of approximately 14 days. During that time I hadn't heard of a lot of the legislation that is used on a daily basis, new nothing about the general procedures, and was basically just an extra pair of hands to help out during an extremely busy time following a recruitment time. I learned very little, but did experience some of the basic tasks such as handling initial enquiries which gave me some basis ideas of the essential things needed to be a foster carer (a spare room, time etc).
In the job description however, it mentioned the legislation that you needed to know and understand, key knowledge and skills. So I went away, got a book from BAAF about fostering work and read it, downloaded the legislation and memorised it, and picked some friends brains who had done a final placement in children's services (Mine was in adult mental health). Somehow I managed to get mentions of all those into the interview answers and managed to bag myself the job. I didn't know the way the law worked in practice, but I emphasised throughout the way I learned quickly, and constantly referred to the theorectical knowledge that I had.
Most of my colleagues from uni are now working in children's services, as that's the only area that's recruiting it seems. Only a half of those did a final placement in children's services and some didn't do a single placement in children's. Don't think that bars you form getting a job there- you just need to get really familiar with the law, theory etc, and think about some case examples you had form placements where you worked with families, had to assess risk, had to consider the effect of the parents'/ other adults' needs on children. You will have had to do that at some point in one of your three placements- so think about it and use it in future interviews to show your ability to assess children's needs/ parenting ability/ safeguarding issues etc.
Queenb really useful advice, not critical, just helpful.
Stressed student: Just to keep you all updated.....I got a full time qualified post offered and start next week!!! So my persistence and determination paid off :)
Well done, Stressed student (or should that now be Stessed NQSW?)!! What type of role/ team is it you have been offered?
Persistence and determination always pays off eventually...it just takes time. Congratulations!
Well done, that's great news.
Hi,
Thanks very much for this comment. It help me to think about my ideals.
Tks again and pls keep posting.