Social Work – Fostering Practice Manager
Social Work – Fostering Practice Manager
Lead. Inspire. Change Lives.
At Barnardo's, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to thrive in a safe, loving and supportive environment. We are looking for an experienced and passionate Practice Manager to join our Family Placement Service and play a pivotal role in improving outcomes for children, young people, foster carers, adopters and families.
This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated social work leader to manage a team of skilled practitioners, drive service excellence, and contribute to the growth and development of one of the UK's leading children's charities.
About the Role
As a Practice Manager, you will provide operational and practice leadership to a team of Social Workers delivering high-quality fostering and adoption services. Working closely with the Operations Manager, you will ensure outstanding outcomes for children and young people while maintaining compliance with all statutory, regulatory and organisational requirements.
You will influence service development, champion safeguarding, oversee quality assurance processes and build strong partnerships with local authorities, commissioners and other key stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & People Management
- Lead, motivate and develop a team of Social Workers and support staff.
- Provide high-quality supervision, guidance and professional development opportunities.
- Manage the employee lifecycle in line with Barnardo's people policies and procedures.
- Foster a positive, inclusive and high-performing team culture.
- Act as a role model, promoting Barnardo's values and commitment to excellence.
Quality of Practice
- Ensure high standards of social work practice across the service.
- Monitor casework, recording and decision-making to ensure compliance with Barnardo's standards.
- Conduct quality assurance activities and support continual service improvement.
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of fostering, adoption and safeguarding legislation and implement changes where required.
- Support and oversee foster carer Form F assessments and adopter AAR assessments.
Safeguarding & Risk Management
- Lead safeguarding practice across the service, ensuring children remain at the centre of all decision-making.
- Manage complaints and representations professionally and in accordance with policy and legislation.
- Work collaboratively with external agencies to ensure effective safeguarding responses.
- Promote a culture of safe, effective and compliant service delivery.
Service Development & Partnerships
- Work with the Operations Manager to develop and implement strategic growth plans.
- Build and maintain effective relationships with Local Authorities, commissioners and partner agencies.
- Represent Barnardo's at internal and external meetings, panels and forums.
- Contribute to service planning, review and development activities.
- Deputise for the Operations Manager when required.
Reporting & Service Management
- Produce high-quality reports for fostering and adoption panels, courts and senior management teams.
- Monitor service performance, quality indicators and outcomes.
- Support budget planning and effective financial management.
- Ensure statutory reviews for foster carers and adopters are planned and completed effectively.
Learning & Development
- Design and deliver training for foster carers and adopters.
- Promote continuous learning and professional development across the team.
- Ensure staff, workers and volunteers complete all mandatory and regulatory training requirements.
About You
We are looking for an experienced and knowledgeable social work professional who:
- Holds a recognised Social Work qualification and relevant registration with NISCC.
- Has significant experience within fostering, adoption or family placement services.
- Demonstrates proven leadership and people management experience.
- Has strong knowledge of safeguarding, fostering and adoption legislation and regulatory frameworks.
- Is confident in quality assurance, service development and stakeholder engagement.
- Possesses excellent communication, report-writing and relationship-building skills.
- Is passionate about achieving the very best outcomes for children and young people.
What We Offer
- The opportunity to make a genuine difference to the lives of children, young people and families.
- A supportive and values-led working environment.
- Ongoing professional development and learning opportunities.
- The chance to influence and shape high-quality family placement services.
- A rewarding leadership role within one of the UK's most respected children's charities.
- Our service utilises Beam Notes to support and streamline the administrative elements of core social work tasks.
Apply Today and help shape brighter futures with Barnardo's
If you share our passion for creating brighter futures for children, we'd love to hear from you.
Working Hours: Monday to Friday (37 hours per week) with flexibility to undertake occasional recruitment and training events and visits during evenings and on Saturdays. Although this is a full-time role we may consider part time hours for the right candidate.
Location: Office base 230b Belmont Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT4 2AW. Travel is required across Northern Ireland.
This is a hybrid working role – We place value on colleagues spending time together at our office base on a regular basis, with flexibility to work from home for part of the week.
Salary: £47,071.00 - £49,725.00
We will also hold a waiting list of suitable candidates to be considered in the event that other similar vacancies arise in the next 12 months.
The successful candidate will also be required to undertake Enhanced Access NI with Child Barred List check.
For informal enquires please contact Ben Rice via ben.rice@barnardos.org.uk
values
People & Culture
Workplace Offer: What it means for you
- The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our Buy Your Leave scheme
- Service related sick pay from day 1
- Cycle2work scheme
- Interest free season ticket loans
- 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 apply based on contract
- Reference number:23364
- Job Title:Social Work – Fostering Practice Manager
- Location:230b Belmont Road, Belfast, BT4 2AW
- Contract type:Permanent
- Hours:37
- Salary:47,071.00 - 49,725.00 plus Office at Home Allowance - £312.00 per annum
- Closing Date:2 August 2026
- Interview Date:To be confirmed