Senior Social Work Practitioner - Adoption Team

Are you a passionate and experienced social worker looking to make a lasting difference in the lives of children and families?

We’re seeking a dedicated Senior Practitioner to join our Adoption Assessment and Support Team, where you will play a key role in delivering high-quality services to prospective adopters and adoptive families alongside the Team Manager.

In this pivotal role, you will lead on complex Prospective Adopter Reports, provide expert support and guidance to colleagues, and contribute to the continuous development of adoption services. You’ll bring your deep understanding of attachment, trauma, and permanency planning, along with strong assessment and communication skills. You will oversee stage 1 assessments of prospective adopters and supervise the support workers within the team.

Join us in creating brighter futures—where your expertise and leadership will help children thrive in stable, loving homes.

An enhanced DBS check is required for this post.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.

About You

To apply for this post, you must respond to and provide evidence of the following essential criteria within your personal statement. This should be no more than 1,000 words.

To apply for this post, you must:

• Have a Social Work degree or equivalent, e.g. CQSW, DipSW (with specialism in children’s services) and be registered with Social Work England.
• Preferably, you will have a number of years of post-qualifying experience in Childcare social work, including experience in adoption, i.e., family finding and matching through to Adoption Orders.
• Be able to complete reports such as Prospective Adopter Reports to a high standard and work within tight deadlines where needed.
• Be able to evidence your skills and knowledge of creative, innovative, and relationship-based social work, working in collaboration with families and professionals. Ideally, you will already be confident in the application of the Signs of Safety methodology.
• Demonstrate enthusiasm and passion for practice and be committed to helping us build a real culture of reflection and learning.
• Commitment to trauma-informed practice.
• Have a full, valid driving licence and access to a vehicle.

You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion.

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Caramjit Supra - Assessment Team Manager

Telephone: 01163055160

Email: [email protected]