Senior Practitioner - Adoption Team

Job Title: Senior Practitioner - Adoption Team
Location: Farnham House - Stevenage, Hertfordshire – Working county wide.
Starting Salary: £38,296 per annum plus £6,243 Market Enhancement, with the opportunity to progress to a maximum of £42,503 per annum plus £6,084 Market Enhancement.
Hours: 37 per week
Contract: Permanent
Diversity: We are an inclusive employer and value a diverse workforce.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a welcoming and supportive team which embraces diversity and inclusion. Our team sits within Hertfordshire’s Specialist Services and we are also proud members of  Adopt East, regional adoption alliance. We invite applications from experienced social workers, who want to develop and progress their career of working with children and families through adoption.

Purpose -
Our primary role is to assess and prepare prospective adopters, support adoptive families through the matching process and provide post placement support. The role requires a good awareness of child development, developmental trauma and it’s impact on children and adoptive families. Our work is varied and you may also be involved with other case work and roles across the Adoption Service such as;-  family finding, direct work with children, facilitating training, representation at Adoption Panel and supporting families post Adoption Order.

Challenges/Opportunities-
We are encouraged to develop our knowledge and offered many opportunities to grow our skills with a strong focus on continued professional development.  There is ample opportunity to develop your knowledge and expertise in assessment, matching adopters with children and supporting adopters through to adoption orders.
Participation in focus groups and working party’s enables the continued development of the service we deliver.

Technical, Skills & Qualifications-
This is a varied and challenging role and we are looking for candidates with the following skills and attributes;-
•A qualified social worker including Social Work England registration with understanding and experience of relevant Adoption regulations, legislation and related research.
•Facilitating group work and training (an advantage).  
•Good evidenced based assessment, analysis, and report writing skills.
•A commitment to diversity and inclusion.
•3 years post qualification experience, including Safeguarding.
•A clean driving licence - ability to drive and/or travel around the County and on occasions out of county, is required for this role.
•Flexibility around evening and weekend working is required alongside hybrid working.

We support new members of staff to our team with a comprehensive induction programme which includes co-working and we further invest in our staff so they have; - an understanding of systemic theoretical framework and models underpinning our interventions; have access to the right tools, equipment and resources; and also the right supervision, training and learning opportunities needed to be strong practitioners and for continued professional development.

Closing Date:  2nd July, 2023
Interview Date: 25^th / 26^th July 2023.

For an informal discussion and more information please contact: Catherine Turner Catherine.turner@hertfordshire.gov.uk, 07812323200