Jane Adenuga has built her social work career in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. She supports children with complex needs and their families as they grow, change and move into adulthood.
In the video below, Jane shares what makes her role so rewarding, how her team supports lasting relationships with families, and why she’s stayed in Greenwich ever since her final university placement.
Jane’s team provides transition support as young people approach adulthood. This long-term involvement helps create continuity, stability, and trust with families.
“We work with the children from when they were quite young till when they become adults… so as a social worker I'm able to witness their growth as they move from one stage of life to the other.”
Her relationships with families are built on familiarity and shared knowledge. This reduces the need for families to repeat their stories and supports stronger co-production.
“When it comes to [a young person] moving to adulthood, transition, we know the story… so we're able to contribute more positively, build on the strength that we know the families have and then it allows the transition to be smooth.”
Jane first became interested in working with disabled children during her studies at Goldsmiths when the head of Greenwich's Disabled Children and Young People service, Jodi Mathers, visited her course with a parent of a disabled young person.
“She came to Goldsmiths with a parent of a young person with disabilities… I was quite fascinated because prior to that I didn't really have that much engagement with a disabled person or child.”
That early interest led to her final university placement in the team, and she never left!
“I had my final placement within the team in 2018 and I have remained there since… So I did my final placement, my ASYE, and here I am today.”
In a full-circle moment, Jane now supports students that are undertaking their placements in Greenwich.
What drives Jane’s work is the opportunity to make a tangible difference in the lives of children and their families.
“It's rewarding for me to be able to advocate for them… to get them the support that actually meets the need of that child and meets the needs of the family.”
Jane credits the service’s supportive culture as a key reason she’s stayed in the role for so long. The work is varied and spans the full spectrum of children’s social work.
“I have a very supportive manager who literally walks the journey as I manage my caseload… She's always there and that's the feedback I get from my other colleagues as well.”
The service’s structure allows social workers to support young people beyond age 18, which is rare in most local authority models.
“We work with children from 0 to 25… We're not transferring them as we used to in the past. The support that is put in place continues to remain appropriate to their needs and there isn't that break or gap.”
The team includes social workers with both children’s and adults’ experience, creating opportunities for shared learning and growth.
“Those [social workers] coming from adult services with transition experience have brought in a wealth of knowledge to us who have mostly children's social work experience. If someone who has mostly adult's experience is thinking "Oh, this sounds interesting, I want to go and see what they do there", I would say to them that this is such a good learning opportunity.”
A central part of Jane’s work is helping young people identify and express their own goals, and then supporting them to achieve these goals.
“It gives them that opportunity before they turn 18… to say to us, to their parents, to everybody around them, "this is what I want for myself"... we work with the families, work with other professionals to ensure that their voice, the voice of the young person is at the centre of any decisions that are made"