Practice Manager

Practice Manager – Family Placement Services Lead. Inspire. Change Lives.

At Barnardo's, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to thrive in a safe, loving and supportive environment. We are looking for an experienced and passionate Practice Manager to join our Family Placement Service and play a pivotal role in improving outcomes for children, young people, foster carers, adopters and families.

This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated social work leader to manage a team of skilled practitioners, drive service excellence, and contribute to the growth and development of one of the UK's leading children's charities.

As a Practice Manager, you will provide operational and practice leadership to a team of Social Workers delivering high-quality fostering and adoption services. Working closely with the Operations Manager, you will ensure outstanding outcomes for children and young people while maintaining compliance with all statutory, regulatory and organisational requirements.

You will influence service development, champion safeguarding, oversee quality assurance processes and build strong partnerships with local authorities, commissioners and other key stakeholders.

• Lead, motivate and develop a team of Social Workers and support staff.
• Provide high-quality supervision, guidance and professional development opportunities.
• Manage the employee lifecycle in line with Barnardo's people policies and procedures.
• Foster a positive, inclusive and high-performing team culture.
• Act as a role model, promoting Barnardo's values and commitment to excellence.

• Ensure high standards of social work practice across the service.
• Monitor casework, recording and decision-making to ensure compliance with Barnardo's standards.
• Conduct quality assurance activities and support continual service improvement.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of fostering, adoption and safeguarding legislation and implement changes where required.
• Support and oversee foster carer Form F assessments and adopter AAR assessments.

• Lead safeguarding practice across the service, ensuring children remain at the centre of all decision‑making.
• Manage complaints and representations professionally and in accordance with policy and legislation.
• Work collaboratively with external agencies to ensure effective safeguarding responses.
• Promote a culture of safe, effective and compliant service delivery.

• Work with the Operations Manager to develop and implement strategic growth plans.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with Local Authorities, commissioners and partner agencies.
• Represent Barnardo's at internal and external meetings, panels and forums.
• Contribute to service planning, review and development activities.
• Deputise for the Operations Manager when required.

• Produce high-quality reports for fostering and adoption panels, courts and senior management teams.
• Monitor service performance, quality indicators and outcomes.
• Support budget planning and effective financial management.
• Ensure statutory reviews for foster carers and adopters are planned and completed effectively.

• Design and deliver training for foster carers and adopters.
• Promote continuous learning and professional development across the team.
• Ensure staff, workers and volunteers complete all mandatory and regulatory training requirements.

• Holds a recognised Social Work qualification and relevant registration with NISCC.
• Has significant experience within fostering, adoption or family placement services.
• Demonstrates proven leadership and people management experience.
• Has strong knowledge of safeguarding, fostering and adoption legislation and regulatory frameworks.
• Is confident in quality assurance, service development and stakeholder engagement.
• Possesses excellent communication, report‑writing and relationship‑building skills.
• Is passionate about achieving the very best outcomes for children and young people.

• The opportunity to make a genuine difference to the lives of children,…