Senior Practitioner - Early Permanence Team

Role Responsibility

We are recruiting for a Senior Practitioner in the Early Permanence team. This is an exciting opportunity to become part of Adoption Partnership South East regional adoption agency and help to make a positive difference for children and families across Bexley, Medway and Kent.
The Early Permanence Recruitment team, provides early permanence foster placements to young children with a potential adoption plan and are either subject to care proceedings or are placed for adoption by consent by their parents. Within this role you will work with families from the point of their enquiry and through the assessment process. Once approved you will support them being linked with a child and become early permanence carers. You will continue to support them closely through the court proceedings until a decision is made about the child’s future care. If the plan is for adoption then you will continue to support the carers become parents to the child in their care. Alternatively if there is a plan for reunification you will support the carers to facilitate this.

You will also co-facilitate preparation courses to potential adopters, workshops and support groups. You will support the team manager in the delivery and planning of training and support as well as undertaking more complex assessments. It is a busy team where children are placed at short notice.
Within this role, you will need excellent assessment and report writing skills. You will work well within timescales and deadlines whilst ensuring your work is thorough and to an excellent standard. You will have the ability to support carers facing uncertainty whilst remaining child centred and work well with birth parents and other professionals. 
We are looking for someone with a degree in Social Work, CQSW, DipSW or equivalent; you will have experience of completing Prospective Adopters reports, have a sound understanding of adoption issues, be willing to learn and a commitment to delivering excellent outcomes for children and young people. In addition to your experience of supporting families, report writing and meeting deadlines you must be able to multi-task and have excellent organisational skills, work independently as well as part of a team with a positive performance culture. Above all, you will be child focused.

As a Social Worker registered with Social Work England, you will have an understanding of adoption legislation and practices plus children & family’s legal proceedings. You will also be an effective communicator with a high standard of interpersonal skills and ability to deal with a wide range of people. It is also important that you demonstrate awareness and understanding of equal opportunities and other people’s physical, social and cultural needs. You must have sufficient post qualifying experience and newly qualified social workers will, therefore, not be considered for this post at this time.

Our children come first. Their needs and wishes, welfare and safety are at the centre of everything we do – and we are dedicated to support our families. Bringing together our expertise, we are committed to achieving the best for all our children across the region. Our agency launched in November 2020.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service and registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.

Interviews on 18th and 19th December 

Contact Details

Please contact Maria Olsson for further information maria.olsson@kent.gov.uk 03000 413280

About the Company

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KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.