Head of Service - Corporate Parenting

The Head of Service – Corporate Parenting provides strategic and operational leadership for services supporting children in care, care experienced young people, fostering, kinship care and permanence. The role ensures children receive high-quality care, stable placements, strong relationships and effective support to thrive throughout childhood and into adulthood.

As a senior leader, the postholder will provide strategic direction and operational oversight to deliver excellent care planning, timely permanence, high-quality placements and successful preparation for adulthood. They will promote relationship-based practice, high professional standards and continuous improvement through visible, restorative leadership.

Working closely with senior leaders, practitioners, elected members, carers and partner agencies, the postholder will strengthen corporate parenting arrangements and drive improved outcomes by using performance data, quality assurance, audit findings and feedback from children, young people and carers to inform service improvement.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities:

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• Provide strategic and operational leadership for Corporate Parenting services, ensuring high-quality support for children in care, care experienced young people, families and carers.
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• Lead service improvement across children in care, fostering, kinship care and permanence, delivering measurable improvements in practice, performance and outcomes.
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• Ensure effective oversight of permanence, care planning, placement stability, pathway planning and transitions to adulthood.
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• Promote a strong corporate parenting culture across the Council and ensure statutory responsibilities are met.
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• Use performance data, audit, inspection findings and feedback from children, young people and carers to drive continuous improvement.
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• Champion restorative, strengths-based and relationship-based practice.
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• Lead workforce development to support confident, child-centred and evidence-informed practice.
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• Ensure children’s voices and lived experience inform service development, decision making and quality assurance.
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• Work closely with education, health, housing and other partners to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities.
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• Contribute to the wider strategic leadership of Children’s Services, fulfil the role of Agency Decision Maker and lead significant resource management.
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Requirements:

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• Recognised social work qualification.
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• Current Social Work England registration.
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• Evidence of significant post-qualifying professional development relevant to statutory child and family social work, safeguarding leadership and service development.
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• Management or leadership qualification, or equivalent senior leadership experience
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• Significant senior management experience within statutory children’s social care.
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• Strong knowledge of legislation, statutory guidance and policy relating to children we care for, care experineced young people, fostering and kinship care.
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• Experience of leading corporate parenting services and managing complex risk, performance, quality and workforce pressures.
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