Job Title
Associate Director, Children in Care and Care Experienced
Location
Dudley
Contract
Interim/Temporary
Rates
Competitive
Job Overview
Our children's and young people social care teams play a critical role in driving the vision and delivery of high‑quality, effective safeguarding and support services for families. We oversee multi‑disciplinary teams that work collaboratively to protect vulnerable children and adults, promote family resilience, and improve outcomes. We lead the development and implementation of strategies to ensure early intervention, prevention, and tailored support for families experiencing complex challenges and champion a strengths‑based, trauma‑informed, child‑centred approach. Safeguarding practices are robust, proportionate, and focused on achieving long‑term positive change. Effective partnership working is critical – across wider teams, external agencies, and communities to create seamless, integrated services that keep children safe, support parents, and strengthen families.
Job Purpose
To provide strategic leadership, professional accountability, and operational oversight for services that safeguard, support and improve outcomes for children in care and care‑experienced young people. To ensure children who cannot live with their families experience safe, loving, stable and aspirational care with a focus on permanence, sufficiency, quality of practice and best possible outcomes. This includes a strong drive to support more children to remain connected to and cared for within their home communities where safe. To have a proven track record of developing children’s residential provision and fostering services at pace, alongside the ability to lead complex change, mature commissioning arrangements, and deliver improvement and financial sustainability in a demanding statutory environment. To be a member of the Council’s Senior Leadership Team, supporting organisational transformation, maximising use of technology and automation and cultivating a high‑performance culture focused on continuous improvement, efficiency and improved customer experience and choice. To support the delivery of the Council Improvement Programme, implement the new operating model and ensure all transformation work streams have clear deliverables to modernise service delivery. To ensure evidence‑based decision‑making and robust financial management, model effective leadership behaviours and accountabilities underpinned by the Nolan Principles, while articulating a compelling vision for change. To act as the lead and direct the provision of children’s social care to meet statutory and regulatory expectations whilst driving excellence, inclusion and innovation. To ensure the best outcomes to support family safeguarding, early help and children with additional needs across the Borough by developing best practice in social care and early interventions to avoid children entering the system.
It positively encourages applications from all suitably qualified and eligible candidates.
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