ID: 1705
Job Title – Birth Parent Counsellor or Social Worker
Service: First Family Service, North West

Salary: starting at £32,635 FTE per annum, rising to £36,158 (£13,054.00 - £14,463.20 pro rata, per annum)
Additionally, £480 home-based allowance FTE per annum

Location: Home based with travel across Greater Manchester

Hours: 14.8 hours per week (part time)

We offer flexible working arrangements - please see below for more details.

Contract: Permanent

Family Action & the Role’s Impact:
At Family Action we support people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities.

We see first-hand the power of family to shape lives, for better or worse, so we speak up for the
importance of family in national and local policymaking, amplify family voices and represent the changing needs of families in the UK today.


Main Responsibilities:
Are you a self-motivated team player with a can-do attitude, who is solution focused and passionate about making a difference? If so, we want to hear from you.
At Family Action we transform lives by providing practical, emotional, and financial support to those who are experiencing poverty, disadvantage, and social isolation. We have been building stronger families since 1869 and today we work with more than 60,000 families in over 150 community based services, as well as supporting thousands more through national programmes and grants.
First Family Birth Parent Service
We are looking for a motivated, passionate, and experienced counsellor or Social Worker for our first family birth parent service covering Greater Manchester. Our service offers statutory support to birth parents and birth relatives who have or are in the process of losing children to adoption. We offer emotional and practical support to some of our most vulnerable parents around letterbox, Keeping in touch arrangements, the adoption process, meeting adopters, life story work and working to break the cycle of repeat removal.
We are looking for a qualified counsellor or Social Worker to assist in developing and delivering the dynamic Birth Parent Service across the Greater Manchester area as part of the PAC-UK First Family Service.
Your impact
You will be a dedicated and enthusiastic professional who is committed to improving the outcomes for birth families and relatives. You will also have strong verbal and written communications skills and be able to deliver the service to a high standard.
Your skills
You will bring your knowledge and experience of providing counselling or therapeutic Social Work to those who are impacted by loss to adoption. You will be joining the organisation as a valuable member of an established service who are dedicated to providing birth parents with high quality support whilst enabling them to feel heard and listened to. You will be an excellent communicator and professionally curious, with experience of providing counselling to adults who have experienced trauma and loss.
We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQIA+ candidates and candidates with disabilities because we are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action. We know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants and will reimburse your travel cost if you attend an interview.
What will we offer you?
We’ll offer you a generous pension scheme and leave entitlements, eye care vouchers, a cycle to work scheme and other great benefits. All roles in Family Action are open to a discussion about possible flexible working options, subject to business needs, and all new starters will have the right to make a flexible working request from day one of employment. We have an excellent wellbeing offer and we will invest in your professional development with on-going quality training and career development opportunities. You’ll join an established, supportive and high-performing service and have the opportunity to thrive in an innovative organisation that values your opinion, encourages learning and has the needs of children and families at its core.
We are forward looking, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement. We are a people focused, can-do organisation, which strives for excellence in all we do and operates with mutual respect. If you share these values and behaviours and have the necessary skills then we look forward to hearing from you.
Please delete unless applicable: We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
Main Requirements (for details check the job description and person specification):
• Interest in fundraising and social impact.
• Experience relevant for your effectiveness in the role might be from various sectors and disciplines: fundraising, Individual Giving, direct marketing, digital marketing, retail requiring working with CRM, administration. The list is not exclusive and if you are passionate about fundraising and social impact, we would still like to hear from you, even if you do not have experience in any of the listed sectors.
• Appointments are subject to Family Action receiving a satisfactory disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service
Benefits:
- an annual paid leave entitlement that commences at 25 working days, rising each April by one day, subject to a maximum of 30 working days plus bank holidays
- up to 6% matched-pension contributions
- enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions
- eye care and winter flu jabs vouchers
- cycle to work scheme
- investing in your professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities

We are forward looking, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement. We are a people focused, can-do organisation, which strives for excellence in all we do and operates with mutual respect.
To Apply:
• Click the ‘Apply’ link below and fill out our digital application form
• Closing Date: Friday 27th February 2026 at 23:59
For any queries, or if you would like to discuss any aspect of the selection process or the potential for flexible working, please email: emma.crowther-duncan@pac-uk.org

All appointments with Family Action are subject to satisfactory Safer Recruitment checks.
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any adjustments if shortlisted for interview. We also make reasonable adjustments on the job, where required.
We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates. We are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action because we know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and we strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support.

All candidates with a disability are welcome to apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and request priority consideration for an interview, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role.