Children's Service Manager - Family Placement
Due to the retirement of the current post holder, there is a rare and exciting opportunity to join Northumberland as the Senior Manager for Family Placement, which includes fostering recruitment and support services, our Kinship assessment and support team (KAST) and a dedicated adoption team of child permanence workers.
We are extremely proud of our ‘Outstanding' Ofsted judgement with Ofsted stating:
"Most children leave care in a planned way, with many via special guardianship orders (SGOs). Carers have strong SGO support from the kinship team. They are appropriately assessed financially and are supported with ongoing family time arrangements, which promotes placement stability. Foster carers are supported well. They have access to support groups and can attend a good variety of training. Furthermore, foster carers build support networks and relationships with other foster families. This builds a community around the child and extended foster family relationships. Effective working relationships with the regional adoption agency (Adoption North East) ensure that children are appropriately placed with adoptive carers in a timely way. Children have their adoption needs met through effective working relationships with the regional adoption agency. Children are appropriately matched to adoptive carers in a timely way."
We are looking for an experienced Senior Manager that is Social Work qualified and registered with Social Work England. You must have a minimum of three-year Team Manager experience, ideally within the area of fostering and adoption, including a good understanding of regulations and inspection frameworks. The ideal candidate is someone committed to improving outcomes for children, supporting people to ensure that they can provide what children need, and have an unresolving passion to be ambitious and aspirational for children and young people.
You will join a committed and well-established senior management team reporting to the Head of Service. Our leadership pledge demonstrates our child centred, and relationship-based approach and we have effectively implemented and continue to embed the Signs of Safety practice framework across our services, that focusses on supporting family and friends' networks to identify their own safe solutions to difficulties wherever possible.
We are supportive of staff and with a strong ethos for flexibility, working in Northumberland Children's Services is like having a second family. We offer very flexible and supportive working conditions with an emphasis on work life balance.
If you would like to find out more about this post, please contact Victoria McLeod, Director for Children, Young People and Education, or Mare Roberts Head of Service at Marie.Roberts@northumberland.gov.uk.
Please note - the interviews will take place on the 6th January.
Why choose us?
Northumberland County Council's (NCC) vision is a 'Land of Great Opportunities' for current and future generations. We believe there is no better place to live and work.
For further information about working for NCC, please visit our website.
We have some outstanding benefits and perks to offer you, including:
1. Pension - We provide a Local Government Pension Scheme;
2. Sick pay - We will pay up to six months' sick pay on full salary subject to service;
3. Annual leave - 26 days paid annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing to 31 days after 5 years' service. Employees can request to purchase additional annual leave via a salary sacrifice scheme.
4. Flexi Scheme: 2 days flexible leave per accounting period (pro rata for part time employees).
5. Maternity/adoption leave - Up to 52 weeks' leave of absence, with pay for a specified period dependent upon length of service and personal choice.
6. Access to car lease scheme following the probation period.
7. Free parking at council offices.
8. Access to the Blue Light Card Scheme.
9. Hybrid working.
To see all our excellent benefits and perks, please click here.
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For guidance on completing your application and for information about our Equality and Diversity principles, please see the attached guidance notes.
We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. If you wish to notify us of your eligibility for this scheme, please email hrrecruitment@northumberland.gov.uk or ring 01670 623930 with your name and the job title you have applied for and one of the recruitment team will ensure this is factored into the shortlisting process and kept anonymous. If you have a disability and would prefer to apply in a different format, please see the alternative methods below. This information will be treated as confidential and will only be used to check that you meet the essential requirements of the post.
Alternative application format:
British Sign Language: northumberlandcc-cs.signvideo.net
For those with speech difficulties or hearing loss: Text relay service dial 018001 01670 623930.
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