Regional Adoption Panel Adviser

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Staffordshire County Council,

Together4

Children is an innovative and forward‑thinking partnership of four local authorities – Staffordshire County Council, Stoke‑on‑Trent City Council, Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council. We work together to improve outcomes for children who enter care and cannot return to their families of origin. We aim to ensure that our children achieve emotional, physical and legal permanence, growing up in loving homes with adults who provide them with a strong sense of security, continuity, commitment and identity.

We are seeking two regional adoption panel advisers with experience and knowledge of adoption work to provide high‑quality professional advice to our regional adoption panels and agency decision‑makers. A key role in ensuring that adoption decisions are safe, timely, legally compliant and in the best interests of children, you will play a critical part in maintaining robust panel processes, supporting panel members, and ensuring that all recommendations meet statutory guidance, regulations and best practice standards.

• Have overall responsibility for the effective functioning of specific adoption panels across the Together4
  
  Children Regional Permanency Arrangement.
• Ensure regional adoption panels run smoothly and timely by coordinating with panel administrators.
• Lead the quality assurance of papers prepared for adoption panels to ensure they meet the necessary standards with adherence to appropriate internal and external legislation.
• Provide professional social‑work advice and guidance to specific Together4
  
  Children regional adoption panels, providing specialist complex, legal and ethical information in respect of internal and external legislation, policies and procedures.
• Lead the recruitment, training, annual appraisal processes and termination of regional panel chairperson(s), vice panel chairperson(s) and panel members in line with the policies and procedures of the Together4
  
  Children Regional Permanency Arrangement.

You will be a highly experienced adoption professional, with a strong child‑centred approach to your work, confident in offering advice and constructive challenge, ensuring that adoption recommendations are in the best interests of children.

• Be a qualified social worker, registered with Social Work England.
• Have substantial professional experience in adoption and children’s social care.
• Have an in‑depth knowledge of adoption legislation, regulations, statutory guidance and national minimum standards.
• Possess a high level of interpersonal skills, including the ability to develop effective working relationships with managers, senior managers and legal services.
• Have excellent communication skills, both verbally and written. You will need to liaise with staff and managers within and outside of the agency at all levels and prepare high‑quality written work as evidence for performance data.
• Be able to analyse complex reports and evidence, identifying strengths, risks and gaps.
• Have strong professional judgement and the ability to maintain objective and child‑focused focus.
• Be committed to continuous professional development.

Interviews will be held during the week commencing 12th January 2026.
Don’t feel you meet all the requirements? We value transferable skills, experiences, and qualifications so consider applying anyway or for an informal chat about the role – please contact Sarah Havill, Head of Together4

Children at sarah.

We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and a Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all backgrounds and communities. As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers, we offer a guaranteed interview if your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. This position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.