Assistant Team Manager - Adoption

North Yorkshire Council; Knaresborough; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

North Yorkshire Council invites applications for a leadership role within the Adoption Team. You will oversee Adoption Social Workers and Support Workers, ensuring high-quality delivery of adoption services to children and adoptive families, and provide expert agency advice to the Adoption Panel and ADM.

The post requires a strong track record in adoption practice, strategic leadership, and a valid driving licence.

Qualifications

• Must have strong leadership experience in adoption or children's services.
• Experience supervising frontline staff (social workers and support workers).
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.

Responsibilities

• Inspire, lead and manage Adoption Social Workers and Support Workers to ensure delivery of adoption services to children and adoptive parents.
• Provide agency advice to the adoption panel and the Agency Decision Maker (ADM).

Skills

Leadership

People management

Strategic planning

Job description

About the service

You will have a significant role within the North Yorkshire Council Adoption Team (which is part of One Adoption North and Humber) delivering management duties and supervising frontline staff made up of social workers and support workers.This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a leadership team within the adoption service and if you are passionate about inspiring staff, supporting best practice and achieving the best outcomes for our children and families, then this could be the job for you!

About the role

You will have a good understanding of adoption and best practice within this field of work, combined with strong leadership skills. Adoption is a diverse area of practice within social work and every day brings new challenges and rewards. We are pleased to be offering this exciting opportunity to join our established and supportive team and to become an influential part ofour highly regarded, high performing adoption service.Here at North Yorkshire Council, we are extremely proud of the work our Children’s Services do.

One of the primary aspects of the role is to inspire, lead and manage Adoption Social Workersand Support Workers, to ensure the effective and consistent delivery of our adoption service to children and adoptive parents in accordance with the relevant policies, procedures and regulations.This is a diverse role which also includes providing agency advice to the adoption panel and to the Agency Decision Maker (ADM) in the context of plans of adoption for children.

It is an exciting time in Children and Young Peoples Services in North Yorkshire as we plan our approach in respect of the Families First Partnership Programme and how we will be responding to the social care reforms. Work is underway to plan our approach and implementations for 2027. As a result of this, some realignment may happen with job roles in the future, we want to be transparent about this in respect of this role.

Please note, for this role you must have a valid Driving Licence.

Using AI? Please follow our guidance to ensure your application reflects your own knowledge and experience: Advice on your job application | North Yorkshire Council

Key Dates

Closing Date: 4th October 2026

Shortlisting: 5th October 2026

Interview Date: 14th October 2026