What is your role?
My role is both statutory, enshrined in the legislation, and strategic, having accountability for all aspects of the Staffordshire Council’s children and families Services. The statutory DCS role is accountable for ensuring that the children across Staffordshire are safeguarded and their welfare promoted. This is achieved through working in partnership with the statutory and voluntary sectors.
What is an average day like?
It is difficult to describe an average day as my diary can be overtaken by events, whether they may be media, court or individual children’s cases. A great deal of my time is taken with management and partnership-related meetings, for example, the corporate management board, Children Safeguarding Board, Health and Wellbeing Board and the Cabinet. My day also involves having both planned and ad hoc with the three Assistant Directors that I line manage to stay connected with their services.
What is your favourite part of the job?
Getting out and meeting people and staff. I love hearing about success stories where we have made a real difference in someone’s life or someone has overcome adversity to reach their potential.
What are the biggest challenges?
The lack of adequate resources to meet the rising demand in a timely manner.
Lack of timely and responsive early intervention services.
Getting everyone working with or concerned about the children on the same page so that we can take a joint responsibility for overcoming the challenges.
The legislative and the policy guidance give very confusing mixed messages and frequently get in the way of providing responsive and appropriate services.
How do you overcome these challenges?
We are always looking at innovative ways of providing services, for example, developing our EADPR model to support schools and families earlier and better. I work closely with both regional and national colleagues to add a professional voice to what is not working well on the grounds and needs to change. I also work closely with the council’s elected members, more specifically, the cabinet members for the children’s social care and Education and SEND, to ensure that the issues of legislation and resources are shared with the local MPs and on the broader arena. I also advocate for timely responses to issues so that if that does not overcome the challenge, it helps to create a better understanding of the situation and the efforts that are being made to manage the situation.
How can you and your team help parents and carers of children with SEND?
By engaging more with parents and carers and listening to them as to what works for them. Providing much more timely responses to requests for services and communication. By developing more trusting and responsive relationships to appreciate that the shortage of appropriate resources and the provision in the SEND arena is a local, regional and national issue, and it is important that we work together as a community to find solutions. By providing appropriate support to mainstream schools to increase the inclusion of children with special educational needs. By continuing to develop Early Help services to meet the needs much sooner and wherever possible preventing them from escalating.
What is one Council service that helps parents and carers of children with SEND which you wish was better known?
I would be hard-pressed to choose one council service because I think we should be doing more to publicise all the services that are on offer, not just the council but across the Staffordshire partnership.
If I were to nominate one service that should be better known, it would be the Assist team, as they are a unique service for adults with visual and hearing impairments. They support adults by removing barriers and ensuring they can access their communities.