Adoption Support Coordinator - Letterbox in Northampton

We have an exciting opportunity within Northamptonshire Childrens Trust Voluntary Adoption Agency for a motivated and positive individual to join our team as an Adoption Support Coordinator (Letterbox). You will be working alongside an experienced colleague in a busy, county-wide service that supports adoptive families, birth families, and families with children under Special Guardianship Orders. The Letterbox Service provides a reliable and supportive way for exchanging information between the child, their adopters or carers, and the birth family. Its purpose is to help maintain important relationships, support the child in understanding their family heritage and offer reassurance about the wellbeing of their birth family, while strengthening the child’s sense of identity and connections to their adopters and carers.

Your role will focus on coordinating paper and digital exchanges as well as liaising and supporting families and colleagues to ensure staying in touch plans are implemented effectively, sensitively, and in line with agreed timescales and confidentiality requirements. This is a part time role of 18.5 hours and the salary is pro rata.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the Letterbox Scheme, ensuring exchanges between birth families and adopters are handled with care, confidentiality, and precision.
• Build meaningful connections by meeting birth relatives and adopters in person or online to make every exchange effective.
• Share your expertise by supporting training for adopters and professionals, helping them understand the benefits of Letterbox and Keeping in Touch.
• Create opportunities for support by assisting at adoption events and groups that bring birth families and adopted children together.
• Drive service improvements by working closely with adopters and birth families to evaluate and enhance what we offer.
• Champion safety and compliance by upholding safeguarding standards and following all relevant legislation and policies.

You’re organised and detail-oriented, ready to work independently and keep everything on track, even to the tightest deadlines. Bringing empathy and professionalism, you handle sensitive situations and strong emotions with patience and understanding. You communicate with confidence, both in writing and in person, building positive relationships with everyone you meet. You understand adoption and its lifelong impact, and ideally, you’re aware of the legislation that shapes this important work. You’re comfortable with technology, using Word and Excel to keep accurate records and stay organised. Guided by strong values, you are committed to anti-discriminatory practice and safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in everything you do. Experience supporting vulnerable adults or families, and training in counselling skills, would be an advantage.

This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore subject to an enhanced DBS certificate. It is also a regulated activity and will be subject to a Barred List check. When applying please ensure your supporting statement covers how you fulfil the essential criteria set out in the person specification as this will be used to shortlist. You will need to provide a full employment history including any gaps since leaving full time education.

About Us

At Northamptonshire Childrens Trust, children, young people and families are at the heart of all we do in every decision we make and every action we take. Our mission is driven by the unwavering commitment to achieving the best outcomes for them. The Trust is wholly owned and funded but operationally independent from the Councils. Our workforce are our most valuable asset and are pivotal to making the services and support we offer to children, young people and families who need us to be the absolute best we can be. We value our colleagues and empower them to be able to do the best job of their lives every single day, working in a culture of support and kindness where achievements are celebrated and creativity is very much welcomed. At NCT equality, diversity and inclusion are part of us and in everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and thrive in our organisation. We are a disability confident employer and have a commitment to care leavers who we guarantee an interview if they meet the essential criteria. Join our dedicated team and be a part of an organisation where your work makes a real difference.

Our benefits

We are committed to continuous improvement, building a skilled, knowledgeable, and flexible workforce alongside promoting innovation and creativity whilst keeping children, young people and families at the heart of all we do. We really value our workforce and offer you a great benefits package including:

• 28 days annual leave, plus 8 Bank Holidays (pro rata for part time) and an additional 5 days, after 5 years.
• Local Government Pension Scheme plus immediate life cover (3 times your annual salary from day one) and ill-health pension protection.
• Opportunity to purchase up to 25 days annual leave.
• Employee Assistance Programme – We have an employee support programme run by Health Assured, an independent, external organisation. Health Assured is available for you and your immediate family members, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and includes telephone counselling, legal advice, bereavement support and medical information.
• Employee discounts with local and national retailers, days out, finance, health and beauty, travel and eating out plus lots more.
• Flexible and family working arrangements including enhanced maternity benefits.
• A permanent, supportive and inclusive management team where you will be empowered to make good professional decisions.
• Extensive Learning & Development and career development opportunities.
• Subsidised town centre car parking scheme.