Social Worker

We have an exciting opportunity to join our creative and dynamic team. Our Adoption team in Scotland have a breadth of experience in adoption in assessment, family finding and post adoption services.

As an Adoption Social Worker, you will work within a team of social workers, family finder, therapeutic support worker and psychotherapist to recruit, train, assess and support prospective adopters across Scotland. Our aim is to provide safe, loving and nurturing families for the children who are in need of permanent homes. You will work with our adopters, the children's local authorities and other professionals to maintain the best quality of service, support and outcomes for children and families.

We are seeking applicants who have:

experience in working with children and their families

experience working with trauma and loss
a knowledge of key policies and regulations in adoption, including the Promise
good communication and assessment skills
ability to work autonomously and as part of a team

Key tasks include:

Assessment of prospective adopters and completion of assessment reports, including analysis

Contributing to and presenting at relevant multi agency meetings such as Looked After reviews, Placement Planning meetings and Panels
Working alongside our family finder and local authority colleagues to find the right match for children and adopters
Timely recording and good communication with all professionals involved throughout the children and families journeys
Training delivery in a variety of settings, in person and online
Participation in our family fun days and support groups

After a suitable induction period the post holder will also join the Out of Hours support rota. Other duties and responsibilities are allocated within the team according to experience and particular skills and service need. Please also see the attached job description and addendum.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of this post further please contact Jennie Potter 

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document (if applicable). This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's . We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people. 

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. 

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application. 

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.

Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
Service related sick pay from day 1
Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
Cycle2work scheme
Interest free season ticket loans
Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
20% discount at Barnardo's stores
Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's