Exploring Practice: Using Agentic AI to Support Social Work Practice in Fostering
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Norfolk County Council’s Fostering Service has recently developed a directory of Copilot agents, bringing together tools to support assessment, supervision, reviews and audits. Each agent is designed with a narrow brief and built-in safeguards to ensure all work remains within NCC’s secure systems.
The tools were developed with a simple initial aim: to reduce the time social workers spend writing Form F assessments, while improving clarity, consistency and reflective depth. This session will explore how the agents are being used in practice, how they have been developed to support social work, and how practitioners have been supported through training and guidance to use them effectively. Key outcomes from this work so far include reducing the end-to-end writing process for a Form F assessment by nearly half, with most time saved at the drafting and final review stages. Using transcripts from visits and meetings allows social workers to focus more on conversations, which in turn improves the quality of assessments.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
• How Copilot agents have been developed to support fostering practice
• Practical examples of where AI tools have added value, and where they are not appropriate
• The training, guidance and support needed to embed these tools safely and effectively
PRESENTERS
Chris Baker, Senior Innovation and Business Change Manager
Chris Baker is a Senior Innovation and Business Change Manager in Digital and Transformation at Norfolk County Council. He spends most of his time helping people make sense of new technology and figuring out how it can genuinely make work easier, rather than more complicated. His focus is firmly on what helps people, what doesn't, and how to introduce AI in a way that feels safe, useful and human. Chris is particularly interested in governance, accessibility and reducing cognitive load, especially in complex, high pressure environments. He regularly works with senior leaders, practitioners and partners to share lessons learned, and the realities of adopting AI in the public and voluntary sectors.
Mike Woodward, Manager, Norfolk Fostering Service
Mike Woodward is a Team Manager in Norfolk County Council’s Fostering Service with almost four decades of experience in statutory fostering practice. He has led Norfolk’s pioneering work on the safe and purposeful use of artificial intelligence in fostering, becoming a subject matter expert in how AI can support professional social work without undermining judgment, relationships, or accountability. Mike designed and implemented a suite of bespoke Microsoft Copilot agents tailored to fostering tasks such as assessments, supervision records, audits, and quality assurance. These tools transform practitioner evidence into structured outputs while keeping decision-making firmly with the social worker. The fostering pilot received positive recognition from Ofsted, demonstrating how AI can strengthen reflective practice rather than replace it.
WHO'S IT FOR?
This session is relevant to social workers, senior social workers, team managers, advanced practitioners, and department heads working in Adoption, Fostering or Kinship Care. It will also be relevant to carers or those working with children and young people.
FEES
Members: FREE (don't forget to log in to your account to receive your discount)
Non-members: £20+VAT.
Contact
Telephone: 0207 520 7520 / 0310
Email: events@corambaaf.org.uk
£20.00