Assistant Director - Family Safeguarding

Staffordshire is a great county to live, work and invest and is a place where most people enjoy a good quality of life. It is a county with a proud heritage and bright hopes for the future – well positioned at the heart of the thriving West Midlands with a growing and prosperous economy, where children, young people and families can flourish.

Under the leadership of our new Director of Children and Families, we are implementing a new structure designed to create a culture of practice excellence, delivering the best possible outcomes for our children and young people. Following our recent Ofsted judgment, our political and corporate leaders are committed to a sustainable journey of improvement, and the recruitment to this post will be vital to our success on that journey, and how quickly we get there.

We are looking to foster a culture of visible leadership, where all Children’s services staff and the wider system are empowered and inspired to collaborate to deliver the best outcomes for our children and young people. 

We want leaders who are excited by the prospect of delivering meaningful change locally in response to broader changes that are taking place at a national level. You will have the opportunity to innovate and to remodel services to ensure they are fit for the future. If you know what good Children’s Services look like, and have the experience of helping to get there, we want to hear from you. 

As our new Assistant Director for Family Safeguarding, you will support the culture change and organisational remodel required to improve children and family services in Staffordshire, ensuring we are able to meet the expectations of the new policy requirements set out in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and the Families First Partnership programme. 

This role will make a significant impact on practice across the whole children and families system, embedding a Family Safeguarding model focused on supporting children and families early in a place based multi-agency approach to Safeguarding and make the links between community-based services, connecting and building a truly inclusive approach to all that we deliver. 

We want children and young people to live in homes and environments where they are safe and close to loved ones. You will lead our families first partnership model and family safeguarding model. You will role-model visible and compassionate leadership, and share our values, central to which is the belief that intervention should always be a last resort, and that when it occurs should be in partnership with families. You will collaborate with our communities and partners to deliver the best outcomes for the children and young people of Staffordshire. 

A qualified social worker, you will be able to evidence significant experience of strong decision-making linked to clear thresholds, supporting a multi-agency approach to anti-oppressive practice with families.

This is an exceptional opportunity to take on a pivotal role within a newly formed team of highly experienced leaders, driving major cultural change and putting children and families at the heart of everything we do as we implement our new Children’s Strategic Partnership.

For further information please visit staffordshire-leaders.com or contact our executive search partners GatenbySanderson: Alex Hayes (0113 2056109) or Seb Lowe (07464 543442).

Closing Date: 7 July 2025

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too. 

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. 

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.