Adoption Agency Adviser

SHROPSHIRE COUNCIL; Telford; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A local authority in Telford is seeking an Adoption Agency Advisor to oversee and improve the adoption process within Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin. The role requires qualifications in social work and strong experience in children's social care. You will provide guidance, assess cases, and ensure compliance with regulations while working collaboratively to enhance outcomes for children and families. This is a permanent, full-time position that offers valuable professional development and flexible working opportunities.

Benefits

Comprehensive training and professional development

Flexible working arrangement

Mileage reimbursement

Paid leave and holiday entitlement

Supportive senior leadership

Qualifications

• Qualified in Social Work with registration evidence.
• GCSE Maths and English grades 9-4 or equivalent.
• Experience as a Senior Practitioner/Senior Social Worker in Children's Social Care.

Responsibilities

• Recruit, assess, and support prospective adopters and foster carers.
• Provide expert guidance on adoption cases and ensure compliance.
• Monitor performance and prepare comprehensive reports.

Skills

Social Work

Risk Assessment

Decision Making

Audit and Quality Assurance

Team Collaboration

Data Analysis

Education

Qualification in Social Work

GCSE Maths and English

Job description

Key Responsibilities and Reporting Relationships

You will be responsible for recruiting, assessing and supporting prospective adopters and foster carers across the region, improving the quality and speed of matching for children, providing high quality support to children and their families, ensuring regulatory compliance with Adoption requirements, and working closely with the Service Manager for Adoption and specialist advice & guidance teams.

• Make best use of collective resources to recruit, assess and support prospective adopters and foster carers.
• Improve the quality and speed of matching for children through better planning and a wider choice of families.
• Provide high quality support to children and their families through direct provision and effective partnerships.
• Provide all children and families with the right support at the right time through a consistent permanency support offer available across the region.
• Respond to regulatory requirements in respect of Adoption, including non‑agency and inter‑country adoption.
• Report to the Service Manager for Adoption and provide specialist advice & guidance to the Agency Decision Maker (ADM).
• Quality assure Child's Permanence Reports and adoption decision making, maintaining statutory adherence.
• Strategically contribute to policy development, shaping adoption services aligned with local and regional objectives.
• Monitor performance, audit adoption cases, prepare comprehensive reports, and proactively address risks.
• Maintain accurate records of children with adoption plans, collaborating with social work teams and multi‑agency partners.
• Provide cover where required to ensure effective functioning of Adoption Panels within the regional arrangement.

Strategic and Operational Accountabilities

As the Adoption Agency Advisor you will work within Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, providing expert guidance and oversight on adoption cases, quality‑assuring Child's Permanence Reports on behalf of the ADM where the Care Plan is adoption, and combining operational management, strategic planning and policy development to promote children’s welfare and statutory compliance.

• Provide specialist advice to the ADM in considering adoption recommendations for children in Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council.
• Review and evaluate adoption / permanency panel recommendations and supporting documentation, ensuring decisions align with statutory regulations.
• Offer professional guidance and advice to social workers and managers regarding adoption planning, care planning and permanency options.
• Provide cover for Adoption Panels where required for effective functioning of specific Adoption Panels across the Together4Children Regional Permanency Arrangement.
• Quality assure the Child's Permanence Reports, providing complex high‑quality professional advice to the ADM on matters relating to individual cases when required.
• Provide clear, well‑reasoned and timely written decisions following adoption / permanency recommendations.
• Work alongside Strategic Leaders to contribute to strategic planning for adoption services, ensuring alignment with objectives of the Local Authority and Regional Adoption Agency.
• Provide insight and recommendations on service development, policy implementation, and local and regional initiatives to improve outcomes for children.
• Embed high standards of practice within the agency whilst promoting learning and reflective practice.
• Undertake continuous reviews of practice and outcomes, consistent with internal and external regulations, policies, procedures, guidance and practices.
• Conduct regular and systematic audits of adoption cases to assess quality, timeliness and compliance of decision‑making processes.
• Prepare and present comprehensive performance reports on adoption activity, monitoring key performance indicators.
• Respond to changes or developments in legislation, statutory guidance and alert senior managers and teams to changes that could impact on the authority.
• Maintain accurate and up‑to‑date records of all children who have a plan of adoption, monitoring progress through assessment, matching, placement and adoption order stages.
• Develop, review and update adoption‑related policies to ensure services are effective, compliant and aligned with statutory guidance and local authority objectives.
• Collaborate effectively with social work teams, adoption panels, regional partners and multi‑agency professionals and senior leaders.
• Ensure complaint or representation handling is appropriate, informal resolution sought wherever possible.
• Promote continuous personal and professional development, attend supervision and use professional supervision effectively.

Qualifications and Experience

To be successful you will possess the following qualifications and experience:

• Qualification in Social Work (CQSW; DipSW; Degree level or A above) and evidence of registration with Social Work England.
• GCSE Maths and English; Grade 9-4 or equivalent.
• Relevant management training.
• Relevant childcare, child development and child protection training.
• Supervisory training.
• Willingness to undertake relevant training to comply with post requirements.
• Experience as a Management, Senior Practitioner/Senior Social Worker role within Children’s Social Care.
• Experience of complex decision‑making in children’s care planning.
• Extensive experience of applying and a comprehensive working knowledge of risk assessments in the area of Adoption.
• Strong skills in tracking case progress, analysing data and identifying risks and delays.
• Experience in auditing, quality assurance, performance monitoring and reporting in a children’s social care context.
• Extensive experience of undertaking assessments of children with a plan for Adoption.
• Experience of working with and advising Adoption Panels.
• Experience of direct supervision of staff or students.
• Comprehensive working knowledge of the Children Act (1989), Adoption and Children Act (2002), National Minimum Standards (2003), Adoption Agencies Regulations (2005), Statutory Guidance on Adoption (2013), Care Planning and Placement Review Regulations 2010 and their relevance for Adoption Panel practice.
• Extensive knowledge and understanding of other relevant legislation, regulations and guidance informing care planning for looked‑after children.
• Extensive knowledge of legislation, regulations, guidance, policies and procedures relating to Children’s Social Care.

Conditions of Service and Pay

The post is permanent, for 37 hours per week, with normal office hours between 08:45 am and 5:15 pm Monday–Thursday and 08:45 am to 4:00 pm Friday, minimum lunch break of 30 minutes.

The appointment is subject to the Council's annualised hours scheme and to the specific work area. Annual leave entitlement is a pro‑rate flat‑rate scheme of 207 hours (28 days) annual leave plus bank holidays, with five days extra awarded to staff with five years local government service giving an entitlement of 244 hours (33 days). Two days of an employee's allowance (pro‑rota for part‑time staff) must be taken at Christmas for any potential Christmas closures. Employees working in a building/service required to open over the Christmas period may carry over the two days leave (pro‑rota) into the next leave year but must be used by the end of March.

Notice periods: the appointment is subject to three months' notice in writing on either side. The appointment is subject to six months' satisfactory probationary service during which time the notice period will be one week on either side.

Smoking is not allowed in Council buildings, in Council vehicles or in any Council place of work. It is a condition of your appointment that you provide a suitable vehicle for the performance of your duties, readily available for normal working hours. You are entitled to claim reimbursement of the costs of travel on council business at the rate of 45 pence per mile.

Benefits and Facility

Benefits include:

• Comprehensive training and professional development opportunities.
• Flexible working arrangement with regular work from home.
• Vehicle provision and mileage reimbursement.
• Paid leave and holiday entitlement.
• Supportive senior leadership and clear career progression.

Our Vision and Mission

Our Vision: Children who cannot live in their family of origin 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.

Our Mission: To improve outcomes for Children who are currently and previously been looked after by our local authority, through a regional partnership; maximising resources and capacity, delivering flexibility, and leading to sustainable improvements in practice and service delivery.

Strategic Outcomes:

1. Children entering care who require long‑term/permanent care away from their birth parents will achieve emotional, physical and legal permanence, giving them a sense of security, continuity, commitment and identity.
2. Prospective adopters, adopters, foster carers, connected persons and special guardians will feel better supported throughout their journeys, providing local, safe, resilient, caring, stable and loving homes for children.

About Together4Children: Four local authorities – Staffordshire County Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council – have come together in an innovative and forward‑thinking partnership. We aim to improve outcomes for those children who enter care and are not able to return to their families of origin. Together4Children operates through a hub and spoke model enabling Local Authorities to benefit from core central functions and networked regional delivery, whilst retaining direct service delivery functions within their own borders.