Social Worker (Adoption)

Do you have a passion to make a difference to the lives of children in care? We have an opportunity for someone to join our Children in Care Team as one of our Adoption Social Workers. 12 Month Fixed Term Maternity Cover Our Story: Halton is a vibrant local authority with a rich history and heritage, featuring two iconic bridges that connect communities across the River Mersey. Located in Cheshire, Halton boasts excellent transport links between Liverpool and Manchester, as well as close proximity to both Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester Airports. Our progressive community strategy aims to bring about meaningful, long-term improvements that enhance lives. It's an exciting time to join us as we develop new policies and transform the way people access services. We are immensely proud that when asked what's great about working for Halton, the most popular response from our workforce has been 'our colleagues'. Our Team: The team is responsible for ensuring that all Children in Care and Care Leavers are supported to achieve positive outcomes and support them in planning to build their lives as young adults ready to leave care and live independently. The team is also responsible for finding permanent families for those children who cannot live within their birth family. We are interested in hearing from Social Workers ideally with experience of the adoption process and working alongside agencies to achieve permanence. Your Contributions: The role involves managing a case load of children whereby a Placement Order has been granted via frontline teams who then transfer to our service to include family finding and matching with forever families alongside our Regional Adoption Agency: Together for Adoption. You will be responsible for care planning and adhering to adoption regulation timescales ensuring children are safe, happy and achieving their aspirations and goals whilst transitioning to live with their forever families. You will work closely with our partner agencies to deliver high quality care and support to our children and young people. Here at Halton we are committed to supporting Social Workers to achieve their aspirations and you will have real opportunities for further promotion and training, as the Council is keen to develop advanced practitioners and also future leaders. For experienced workers we offer the opportunity for progression and continued professional development which includes a focus on your development including opportunities to become a practice educator, work with our local universities on delivering course material to student and progression to advanced practitioner. We have strong links to our local Universities and we offer specialist training and membership of Research in Practice. We aim to support you throughout your career whether you want to progress through a specialism, management pathways or teaching.

To apply for this post you must be a qualified social worker ideally with post qualifying experience within a statutory children's social care setting, along with knowledge and understanding of working with children in care and care leavers and our key partners as a corporate parent. Full Social Work Qualification is required. In addition, this post is subject to Enhanced DBS Disclosure, a UK driving licence and access to a vehicle is required and Social Work England Registration.

Aside from working with a great team, our employees have access to a fantastic range of benefits, including:

• A generous annual holiday allowance starting at 34 days per year (including bank holidays), increasing with long service
• Membership of our defined benefit, salary-linked Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with generous employer contributions
• 3 x Salary Life Cover via Local Government Pension Scheme
• Investment in your personal development
• Free Car Parking at HBC sites
• Flexible working arrangements
• Car leasing schemes
The Market Supplement applicable to the advertised role is as follows: For salaries of HBC 7 and HBC8 - £2,710 per annum For salaries of HBC 9 - £3,710 per annum Market Supplement's may be subject to early removal should there be rational to do so. Next Steps: At Halton Borough Council, we want all of our candidates to feel well-informed so if you would like to have an informal chat about this role, please contact Lyndsey Ratcliffe (Service Manager Children in Care and Care Leavers) on . Interviews will take place on 13/02/2025. At Halton Borough Council we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce and a vital part of this is to encourage diversity in all respects. We are committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and tailored to best suit the needs and strength of the individual. This includes making adjustments for people with a disability, neurodiversity or with long-term health conditions. If you require accommodations, please reach out during the recruitment process so that we can make this the best possible experience for you - Please refer to the attached Job Profile for further information about the role and our values.