Adoption Support Worker - Req24376

Job title:  Adoption Support Worker

Salary: £34,833 - £36,648

Hours: 37

Contract: Permanent

Location: Leeds, Kernel House

As an Adoption Support Worker you’ll thrive on providing advice and support to initial enquiries from adoptive families, birth families and people who are adopted and who contact our adoption advice line.

One Adoption is a Regional Adoption Agency, a shared adoption service across the 5 local authorities in West Yorkshire and hosted by Leeds City Council. Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

As an Adoption Support Worker you will bring to the role:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• The ability to be innovative and creative when working with children and families
• Experience in direct child and/or family related work. This could include child care, social work, teaching, counselling, fostering and adoption etc 
• Good negotiation and mediation skills
• Highly organised working practices with the ability to get the best out of IT systems 

About the role 

As our next Adoption Support Worker, you will work alongside qualified social workers in our Early Advice and Support team providing an initial response to adoptive families, birth families and people who are adopted and who contact us via our adoption advice line.  The role is interesting and fast faced, undertaking very short-term pieces of work with families to provide an initial support service to them.  There will also be opportunity for you to be involved in facilitating groups and taking part in other service development opportunities as they arise.  The successful applicant will be based in the Leeds office, however with hybrid working arrangements.  The work is mostly virtual – but may involve a small number of visits - and involves families who for the majority live in West Yorkshire. 

We will provide good supervision and membership of a supportive team and wider service, with good opportunities for professional development. You will have a chance to be part of something truly stimulating, creative and forward-thinking. 

If you are an exceptional, motivated and dedicated practitioner; able to demonstrate an understanding of the impact of early life trauma and adverse childhood experiences along with a proven experience of effectively undertaking work with children and families then we would like you to apply to become part of our team.

We want you to inspire us and contribute to the development of our services.  In return you will gain the opportunity to develop your professional skills and your career in a challenging but supportive environment. You will need to be able to engage well with children, adoptive and birth families.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

• a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
• membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
• flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
• a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
• a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidance for further advice. Please check your information carefully and ensure you complete all sections before submitting your application. 

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact Julie Chew, Service Delivery Manager on 07712 216762 or Eve Robinson, Team Manager on 07891 279942.

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

We promote diversity and want a workforce that reflects the population of Leeds. Leeds City Council is ranked 70 on the Stonewall Equality Index 2023. We are also an age-friendly employer, a Mindful Employer and a Disability Confident Leader.

All new Leeds City Council appointments are made subject to the satisfactory completion of a six-month probationary period.
 
This role is based in the UK. Employment is conditional on confirmation of the right to work in the UK - 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 and the role does not meet eligibility for sponsorship, please consider carefully whether you meet the eligibility to apply.

Job Description

Job purpose: To actively participate in consultation, development and provision of Adoption Support services in conjunction with social work staff. 

Responsibilities 

• To provide Adoption Support to individual families including direct work with children and families
• Regarding promoting attachment, managing behaviour, life story work and contact issues
• To undertake or contribute to assessments of need for Adoption Support where appropriate
• To organise and assist in facilitating groups for children and young people
• To organise and assist in facilitating groups and workshops for adoptive parents
• Provide advice and assistance on contact arrangements and to facilitate or supervise contact if needed
• Maintain and update case notes and write reports as required
• To mobilise a support service for adoptive families and ensure that plans are made which include appropriate support packages for families
• Liaise and network with other agencies involved in the provision of services for adopted people
• and their families, including co working with other professionals
• To participate in training to ensure up to date knowledge and skills

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

Substantial experience or qualification in child care, counselling, teaching, nursing, social work or similar.

Essential requirements It is essential that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements.

• The post holder will be expected to work in partnership with Children’s Services staff in Local Authorities, maintaining a close working relationship with colleagues, service users, carers and other agencies.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Good IT/computer skills
• Highly organised working practices
• Good telephone and listening skills
• Ability to work as part of a team
• Ability to be innovative and creative when working with children and families.
• Ability to make proactive use of supervision to reflect critically on practice and explore different approaches to working with families
• Car driver
• Knowledge of theories and practice relating to child development and parenting skills and strategies.
• Knowledge of adoption research theory and practice
• Competence in and knowledge of professional practice issues including relevant legislation and developments
• Experience of adoption either in a professional or personal capacity.
• Substantial experiences in direct child and/or family related work. This could include child care, social work, teaching, counselling, fostering and adoption etc.

Essential Behavioural & other Characteristics 

• Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct.
• Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
• Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council equality and diversity policies.
• Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
• Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities. 
• Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade. 
• Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
• Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
• Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity policies of Leeds City Council. 
• Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person.
• The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.

Desirable requirements It is desirable that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post.  Candidates are not required to meet all the desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates. 

• IT skills, particularly the ability to use word processing packages
• Negotiation and mediation skills
• Counselling skills
• Knowledge of preventative work which is aimed at reducing the need for children to become looked after by the Local Authority.
• Knowledge of the problems of disadvantaged groups.
• Experience of group work
• Demonstrate experience of both course design and delivery
• Direct experience of providing elements of post Adoption Service