Job title: Advanced Practitioner (Perm FT)

Location: Leeds/Huddersfield/Bradford

Grade: PO5 £49,282 - £52,413

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 37

Are you an experienced and confident social worker with a passion for supporting adoptive families and developing social worker practice? We are looking for an experienced social worker to join our Recruitment and Assessment service as an Advanced Practitioner.

About the Role

This role sits at the heart of how we prepare, assess and support prospective adopters. You will lead key areas of practice and support staff to deliver good quality, child-centred work.

A central part of the role is overseeing and delivering our Recruitment and Assessment training programme for adopters. You will work directly with prospective adopters, birth parents and adopted adults to bring lived experience into the adopter training.

You will also provide consultation, mentoring and practice support to colleagues, lead our R&A Practice Forums, and develop practice guidance, helping to strengthen consistency and reflective practice across the service.

Alongside this, you will take on complex work, including initial visits and second opinion visits, and contribute to the quality of decision making.

You’ll be supported by a dedicated team manager and provided with clear guidance, templates, and supervision as needed.

What We’re Looking For

A qualified social worker registered with Social Work England
Significant post-qualifying experience in children and families work, including adoption
Strong assessment and analytical skills
Confidence in facilitating training and group learning
Ability to support and challenge practice in a constructive way
Commitment to child-centred practice and high standards

What We Offer

A permanent leadership role within a well-established regional adoption agency
Opportunities to shape practice and influence service development
A supportive management team and established learning culture
Flexible working arrangements

If you’re passionate about adoption and want to make a meaningful difference in children’s lives, we’d love to hear from you.

We want our workforce to reflect the communities we serve. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly those who are under-represented in our service.

To apply or find out more, please contact Rhian Beynon 0113 5350850 or Lianne Kingswood 0113 3789282

One Adoption West Yorkshire (hosted by Leeds City Council)

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s or Adults’ barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visaroute before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Job purpose

The Advanced Social Work Practitioner Adoption role manages the most complex cases requiring considerable experience, excellent practice skills and a wide knowledge base. The post also leads on key projects and service developments, supports Team Managers with day-to-day operational issues, and provides supervision, mentoring and coaching for selected staff and students.

Responsibilities

Undertake complex casework and assessments, including holding and progressing the most complex adoption cases.
Lead on key projects and developments as determined by the Team Manager and contribute to strategic service improvement.
Exercise a high level of autonomy and decision making, reporting to the Team Manager on case progress, risks, outcomes and project delivery.
Co-work and coach less experienced social workers so they can benefit from advanced practice expertise.
Support Team Managers with case allocation, workload oversight, critical evaluation of practice, and performance against timescales and targets.
Mentor, coach and advise newly qualified and less experienced staff and provide structured supervision where required.
Line manage and supervise sessional workers, trainee or student social workers and undertake or support Practice Educator Level 2 activity.
Provide consultation and advice to staff across adoption and fieldwork services and chair planning, review and project meetings as needed.
Use and manage financial resources appropriately within available budgets and contribute to training and development activities to maintain high standards of practice.
Comply with Leeds City Council and directorate policies, including safeguarding, health and safety, equality, diversity and continuous professional development requirements.
The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.

Qualifications

Essential requirements Candidates will only be shortlisted if they can demonstrate that they meet all the following essential requirements.

An appropriate professional social work qualification such as DipSW, Degree, CQSW or equivalent
Registration with the relevant professional body on commencement and maintenance of annual registration.
Practice Educator 2 or willingness to undertake the training, with recent experience of supporting a student.
Extensive post-qualifying experience in Children and Families work within a Local Authority setting, including significant adoption experience.
Extensive knowledge of adoption, child care and child protection legislation, social work theory, risk assessment, and current policy and research relevant to practice.
Demonstrable ability to supervise, mentor and coach staff and students, lead practice development, and prepare high-quality reports on complex issues.

Essential behavioural and other characteristics

Ability to critically apply social work theory in practice and undertake complex assessments and risk analysis.
Ability to communicate, negotiate and influence a wide range of practitioners, managers and partners from other agencies.
Ability to chair meetings, present information clearly and support the learning and development of staff and partners.
Committed to delivering high-quality, child-centred social care services and continuous improvement in practice.
Able to take ownership of informed decisions and deliver quality outcomes in complex and sensitive situations.
Personal integrity with a strong commitment to fairness, diversity, equality and anti-oppressive practice.
Willingness to lead by example, support colleagues and promote excellence across the service.
Able to work within Leeds City Council policies and procedures, including Health, Safety and Wellbeing requirements.
Committed to ongoing training, development and continuous professional development.
Flexible and adaptable to support service needs in line with the responsibilities and grade of the role.

Desirable requirements Candidates are not required to meet all the following desirable requirements; however, these may be used to distinguish between candidates.

Car driver.