Bucks Council receives prestigious award for its adoption and fostering projects

Bucks Council has revealed it received a prestigious award recognising its fostering and adoption services.

The local authority was among the 18 winners at the Social Worker of the Year awards.

Bucks Council received the silver award in the Digital Transformation category, for work developing a series of online tools to help people thinking about adoption, fostering or special guardianship.

The Social Worker of the Year Awards aims to recognise those in the profession who are improving the lives of the people they support. There are a total of 18 categories and each is judged by an independent panel of social workers, people with lived experience, and senior figures from the world of social work.

Bucks Council’s Adoption Ready and Fostering Ready tools are designed to allow those who may be contemplating adoption or fostering, to check their eligibility and suitability, to find out more about the process and to plan and prepare ahead.

Alongside these tools, the council has also created a Guardians’ Guide, a website full of practical guides and expert support for special guardians. A special guardian is a person who takes on long-term, legal responsibility for a child they already have a relationship with.

Councillor Anita Cranmer said: “A lot of hard work has gone into creating our adoption and fostering readiness checkers and the guide for special guardians so I am delighted that these efforts have been recognised in this award.

“We want to ensure that everyone involved in adoption, fostering and special guardianship in Buckinghamshire has access to the best support and advice available to help them at every stage of the process. This, along with the hard work and dedication of our specialist teams, is what makes our adoption and fostering service deserving of such an award. Well done to everyone.”

More details of how to adopt or foster in the county can be found online.

The Social Worker of the Year Awards were established in 2006 and achieved charitable status in 2011.