Social Worker - Fostering & Adoption

Barnardo's Adoption North England have a fantastic opportunity for social workers to join our busy team on a permanent full‑time basis.

Location of Post: The successful candidate will be on a hybrid contract with an office base in the North East area, primarily working from home. They will be expected to work across the region of their office base but also work across the whole of the North of England depending on service need and attend monthly team meetings at the Leeds office, so travel across the whole region is essential.

We are looking for enthusiastic individuals who bring a passion for adoption work and for developing secure permanent homes for children.

As an Adoption Social Worker, you will work within a team of social workers, managers, and admin staff to recruit, train, assess and support prospective adopters in the North of England to provide safe, loving and nurturing families for children in need of permanent homes. You will work with our adopters, the placing authorities and other professionals to maintain the best quality of service, support and outcomes for children.

• Assessment of prospective adopters and completion of assessment reports
• Attending relevant multi‑agency meetings such as CLA reviews, Placement Planning meetings and panels
• Timely recording and good communication with all professionals involved in placements
• Training delivery in both Group and Individual settings
• The post holder will contribute as part of the team to the training and assessment of new carers, and to maintaining the office duty system.
• After a suitable induction period the post holder will join the Helpline support rota (out of hours service).

A professional Social Work qualification and SWE registration are essential for this post as is experience in Family Placement, Child Protection or work with Looked After Children. The duties of this post require the applicant to have a full current driving licence that enables them to drive in the UK and have use of a car and business‑use insurance. Barnardo's is, however, willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by other means.

Barnardo's is a Voluntary Adoption Agency. Our head office is in Barkingside, Essex with branches throughout the UK. The Adoption North England team is part of the wider Family Placement service which also has adoption and fostering services throughout the UK. The Adoption North England team has office bases in Leeds and North Tyneside and covers a wide geographical area from the Scottish border in the North to South Yorkshire and Cheshire in the South and from Merseyside in the West to Humberside in the East.

When completing your application form, please refer to the skills, knowledge and experience required as detailed in the Job Description and Person Specification and also any further information included in this Additional Information Sheet. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

You will be expected to carry out all aspects of the adoption social worker role in the Voluntary Adoption Agency - from adopter recruitment, preparation, assessment and approval through to linking, matching, placing and supporting children with their adoptive/permanence family. You will be working alongside colleagues to develop and deliver various training programmes to prospective and approved adopters; this will include Early Permanence and preparation training for example. You will play an active role as part of the office duty system and work as a part of a team to develop and grow the service. This may include taking a lead role in your area of interest/expertise.

You will be required to work alongside external agencies to complete non‑agency adoption work, for example, step‑parent adoption assessments which will require some court attendance. You will play an active role in the recruitment of prospective adopters and support the regional recruitment hub as and when required to undertake online initial visits. You will be expected to play an active role in family finding, which includes attending fun days and profiling events to support families, and managing all expressions of interest. Due to the ever evolving, changing nature of adoption, flexibility, creativity and adapting to change will be essential.

Barnardo's Adoption North England always look to develop and improve the services provided to adopters and looked after children seeking a permanent placement. This offer includes the provision of a comprehensive suite of training, therapeutic support and peer mentoring services etc. You will have experience of assessment and inter‑agency working and be a strong communicator and team‑worker with knowledge of the issues facing vulnerable children and young people. An understanding of safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures is a must too. You will need to be able to work to clear timescales and have good communication skills. You will keep accurate and up to date records on computer systems and write reports and other pertinent documents in accordance with service policy and procedure and current regulations.

As we work with Local Authorities anywhere in the UK you may be expected to travel throughout the country to attend meetings and facilitate placements. You will have the opportunity to work in a specialist area of social work in a highly skilled, motivated and supportive team whilst receiving high quality management support and supervision. You will be expected to attend relevant training which will be provided to aid your performance and development. You will participate in and contribute to team functioning, promoting the aims and objectives of the service and to the development of the new areas of work.

You will have received a Social Worker job description and person specification. This is a generic role in use throughout the organisation however you will be employed to work as a Social Worker in Barnardo's Adoption North England. The team covers the whole of North England, and we are currently seeking to recruit a social worker based in the North East region, however please note that whilst this will be your nearest office base, you may be required to work across North England depending on business need. The role will be based within the Adoption team but there will be an expectation that staff will support colleagues and carers in the Fostering team as the need arises. The post‑holder may be required to work on some evenings and occasional weekends to support the work of the service in meeting the needs of adopters and their children. You will also be required to contribute to an out of hours helpline for adopters and carers in our service.