I want to work with children in care, where do I start?

[JumpingDizzy]

Does anyone do this? I've been thinking long and hard about this and know I want to go for it. I'm not expecting it to be easy or even attainable? I haven't worked for 11 years.
I'm a qualified hairdresser so don't exactly have that in my favour. I know I'll need to go back to college but am unsure which step I need to take up the ladder?
Maybe I should see a career's advisor?

How Strange, I have always worked in accounts but have said for quite a few years now that I want to change direction and work with teenagers in care( i was one myself) and had a great social worker and care worker and as I have got older realised exactly what they did for me. If you get any feed back about the direction to go it would be greatly appreciated if you could let me know. Good luck and would be nice if you keep me informed.

I would start by calling your local ss and asking which ajency they use? Then contact them and ask to be put on the books. You can pick up shifts pretty easy. With a little experience and some qualifications you can then start applying for permant jobs. Also worth contacting your local youth teams, here we have YISP (Youth Inclusion support pannel) and YOT (Youth Offending team). You dont always need to be qualified for these jobs tbh. A lot of the time its more to do with the person and not the piece of paper iyswim. Children, especially teenagers pick up on false people and "do gooders" quickly. ( not suggesting you are) I hope this helps

thanks a lot for the info lisad123, sounds like a good plan.
Are you still working maidenvoyage? It's a bit nerve racking for me going back to work but I have to at least start thinking about it.
I agree about teenagers picking up if you're false. 3 of my friends (at least) were in care so this has probably given me more of an incentive.
How long were you in care maidenvoyage?

lisad, can you elaborate on what you mean by 'do gooders'? I would hope that all people like jumpingdizzy who enter this field want to do good, as it were?

ah we have a saying "there are do gooders and those that do good" LOL
Its basicly that you are there to make a change and get to know the children as people, its rather hard to explain tbh. not sure i make sense!

Voluntary work or part-time help as suggested, plus consider doing a degree in Social Work maybe?

There are a few different routes you could take. You could register with an agency and /or get some experience of working with children through voluntary work first. Otherwise you could do an NVQ type qualification or a degree in social work. There are many different ways of working with children in care, through direct work such as being a residential care worker (keyworker) or by being a child care social worker or child care support worker (you don't need a social work qualification to do this job but you will need experience).