Regional Adoption Vice Chair

Regional Adoption Panel Vice Chair – Together4Children Regional Permanency Partnership

Staffordshire/Regional

Contract – Sessional

Fee - £125 Independent Panel Member full day/ £500 Per Panel – when acting as Vice Chair + mileage @ 45p per mile

The Together4Children Permanency Partnership is an ambitious and innovative collaboration between Shropshire Council, Staffordshire County Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Telford & Wrekin Council.

We work to ensure that children who enter care achieve emotional, physical and legal permanence, so that they can grow up in loving homes within families who provide them with a strong sense of security, continuity, commitment and identity.

Together4Children are seeking applicants for an Adoption Panel Vice Chair to act up in the absence of the Panel Chair. The applicant will also be expected to be a panel member and sit on panel in this capacity at a minimum of 12 times per year. This role will mainly cover our panel in Staffordshire but with occasional requirements to cover other panels across the regional partnership. Our panels are currently held virtually over Microsoft Teams, however in the future some panel activity may return face to face.

The successful candidate will have experience as an adoption panel member and/or vice chair with significant experience of adoption; they will also be flexible and committed to making a difference to children’s lives.

Adoption Panel considers whether prospective adopters are suitable to adopt a child/ren and whether child/ren should be matched with prospective adopters.

Our Adoption Panels are made up of a range of people who have personal or professional experience relevant to adoption. Panels offer independent scrutiny and quality assurance with a focus on meeting the needs of children who cannot live within their birth family.

Panel Members are required to:

• Attend Adoption Panel meetings and take responsibility for participating in the making of a recommendation by drawing on both personal and professional knowledge and experience.
• Read the electronically circulated papers carefully before the meeting and to attend the meeting prepared to raise issues and contribute to the panel discussion.
• Participate with other members in advising on policy and procedural matters as required.
• Address diversity issues and promote anti-discriminatory practice.
• Safeguard the confidentiality of all panel discussions.

We are committed to working with partners and families to support children and young people to be safe and secure, to promote their physical and emotional well-being and to help them achieve their full potential within their communities.

The vice chair will need to work closely with our Adoption Panel Chairs, other Vice Chairs and our Regional Adoption Agency Advisers across our Partnership, to ensure consistency of practice with the aim of improving practice and to ensure that children’s needs are met effectively and efficiently.  

All Councils within the Together4Children Partnership are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment, with communities and employees.

This position is subject to criminal records check from the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly CRB) which will require you to disclose details of all unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions.

Closing Date: Friday 11 February 2022

Interview Date: TBC.

For an informal discussion please contact Diane Grist – 07966 328830, Regional Agency Advisor – Stafford Panel

To apply: candidates should submit an Adoption Panel Member application form to diane.grist@staffordshire.gov.uk by 5.00pm on 11 February 2022.