12 month Secondment/ Fixed Term Contract to cover maternity leave.
Part Time hours per week. September 2025 – September 2026.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a qualified senior social worker to take up a 12 month post in the support service area of Adopt South West to provide support to adoptive families in the Devon area of the region. This post is for hours (3 day equivalent) per week. This post will primarily cover the Devon area and your base will be County Hall in Exeter, however, you may be expected to cover other areas across the region and beyond when needed.
This is a great time to join the Adopt South West support team as we continue on a journey of streamlining and improving our services to meet the diverse and often complex needs of families who need our support. There is a commitment and drive at all levels of Adopt South West to take a responsive, caring, empathetic, trauma informed and child focussed approach to all people and families we work with. We are a friendly, committed and experienced team including people with expertise and specialisms in certain aspects of therapeutic support including therapeutic life story work and other evidence based therapeutic approaches.
The main duties will involve undertaking adoption support needs assessments and reviews, providing therapeutic support to families, advocacy, and sourcing external support through national funding.
This position will also involve supporting families who are in crisis, or where there is concern about breakdown in family relationships. You will need to be confident in understanding, exploring and appropriately addressing risk for children both within and external to their family home and be able to work as part of a multi-agency professional network to contribute to safeguarding plans.
You will also be occasionally required to deliver workshops, including with parents, helping to facilitate support groups and assist in the delivery of therapeutic parenting courses, as well as delivering training to colleagues and external professionals. This role will include adult adoption counselling, including writing and sharing file summaries for adult adoptees. It will also involve offering support to birth family’s when needed.
About You
You will be enthusiastic and committed to helping children, their families and adopted adults. You will have a good understanding of the issues that impact people who have been adopted as well as their families. You will have a genuine desire to help and support people and be able to work collaboratively alongside families, children and young people to produce concise, clear and analytical assessments which identify and recommend appropriate and effective support plans and interventions.
You will have the ability to engage with children and young people, demonstrating a genuine commitment to ensuring that their voices remain central to your work. You will be pragmatic, reflective and trauma informed, always considering how early life experiences have impacted on the people you are working alongside.
You need to have experience of working with children and families and ideally safeguarding, adoption and group work experience. You must demonstrate an up-to-date knowledge of social work practice in relation to permanence and understand the needs of adoptive families and adoptees. You need to be well organised and able to manage and prioritise your own workload and work independently at times. You will be supported to do this with access to consultations with a clinical psychologist for case discussions and planning as well as peer reflections and supervisions.
Please note, flexible working hours, travelling and some working out of the county may be required. This post will benefit from peer mentoring and monthly supervision to support you in this role.
Informal Discussion: If you would like to speak to us to gain further information, please contact Team Manager, Phil Duffy:
Employee Benefits
There are many benefits to joining Devon County Council and in exchange for your dedication, skills and experience we can offer a number of employee benefits including:
1. Generous annual leave
2. Free onsite parking
3. Flexible working opportunities and promotion of a healthy work-life balance, including working from home where possible – Please visit for more information
4. Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee well-being services
5. Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme
6. Discounts at over 900 national & local high street retailers through our benefits platform
7. Cycle to work scheme
8. Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
Applications close on 13 July 2025 and shortlisted applicants will be contacted to arrange interview dates promptly.
Internal Applicants: Please use your iTrent Employee Self Service (ESS) details to log in and apply.
Please Note: At this time, we are only accepting applications from candidates who are currently residing in the UK and are unable to consider overseas applications.
Additional Information
9. DCC embraces the positive benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to providing an environment that is inclusive and safe. We welcome applications from people who share our commitment to stop discrimination, challenge inequality and promote diversity across Devon. The Council offers flexible working arrangements in terms of when and where people work hybrid working, part-time, condensed hours etc. More information can be found on our
10. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment
11. This role requires the ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence and fluency in English
12. Personal data we collect from you will be processed in accordance with the
13. This role requires a DBS disclosure
REQ008097 - Children's Social Care