Advanced Social Work Practitioner

Adopt North East is a Regional Adoption Agency hosted by North Tyneside Council. It is a partnership between five Local Authorities:
Gateshead Council, Newcastle City Council, Northumberland County Council, North Tyneside Council and South Tyneside Council.

Since December 2018, Adopt North East has provided adoption services on behalf of the partnership. Adopt North East has responsibility for recruiting, assessing and supporting prospective adopters, for non-agency adoption work including partner adoptions and intercountry adoptions. Adopt North East has primary responsibility for family finding for all children with adoption plans but the five partner Local Authorities retain overall responsibility for children in their care.

Adopt North East provides support to all parties affected by adoption, including adopters, adoptive families, adopted adults and birth relatives.

Based in modern offices just to the east of the city of Newcastle, Adopt North East is a great place to work. Adopt North East provides a unique professional opportunity for its 50 or so staff to contribute to outcomes for children across five local authorities, from Haltwhistle to Hebburn, Bensham to Berwick.

Staff working for Adopt North East are employed by North Tyneside Council and enjoy the benefits of being part of the Authority’s Children’s Services, graded Outstanding by Ofsted. This includes a commitment to high quality supervision and management oversight, excellent training opportunities, support for career progression, a modern case management system and agile working solutions.

Adopt North East values applications from candidates ambitious to make a difference to the lives of children and motivated to deliver the best possible adoption services.

Following the promotion of the current post holder, Adopt North East is looking to recruit two new Advanced Practitioners for the Family Finding and Post Adoption Support Advice and Access Team. The Advanced Practitioners will be responsible for:

• Working a small number of cases with a high level of complexity and/or risk;
• Modelling high standards of professional practice and conduct;
• Mentoring less experienced staff using observation, reflection and feedback;
• Shaping and influencing practice by developing evidence-informed expertise in a specialist area
• Using mechanisms such as peer supervision and group case discussion to generate better outcomes for children and families;
• Contributing to individual and team resilience by being attuned to the effect of high emotion and stress and respond in calm, measured and pragmatic ways.
• The Advanced Practitioner will also, when required, be responsible for deputising for the Team Manager, as necessary and appropriate.

Theese post are an ideal opportunity for two experienced Social Workers who wants to progress and support less experienced colleagues.

Applicants will need to be highly ambitious to make a difference to the lives of children and motivated to deliver the best possible adoption services.

For an informal discussion about the post, you can contact Maddy Reed, Team Manager for Family Finding

Clair Lormor, Team Manager for Post Adoption Advice and Access Team

• The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 and an Enhanced DBS disclosure, including Barred List Check, will be required.

Applications based upon flexible working arrangements are welcomed and will be given full consideration.

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