Head of Corporate Parenting

Be the leader our children deserve

At Central Bedfordshire, being a corporate parent is one of the most important responsibilities we hold. We are ambitious for our children and young people and committed to ensuring that every child in our care experiences safety, stability, belonging and opportunity. At Central Bedfordshire, relationships are at the heart of everything we do. We believe children achieve the best outcomes when they are surrounded by people who know them well, understand their experiences and remain alongside them throughout their journey. We are committed to strengths-based, relationship-centred practice that builds on children's relationships, networks and aspirations.

We are seeking an exceptional and inspiring leader to join our senior leadership team as Head of Corporate Parenting. This is a pivotal role, providing strategic and operational leadership for services supporting children in care, care experienced young adults, fostering, adoption and permanence.

Alongside leading these services, you will have the opportunity to shape the future of fostering across Bedfordshire through our ambitious End-to-End Fostering Hub programme. As one of the leading authorities driving this approach, Central Bedfordshire is helping to transform how fostering services are delivered across the region. You will play a key leadership role in strengthening fostering sufficiency, supporting the recruitment and retention of foster carers, and ensuring more children can grow up in stable, loving family homes.

This is an exciting time to join us. We have a strong foundation, a committed workforce and an ambitious vision for children and young people. We are seeking a leader who shares our determination to deliver exceptional experiences and outcomes for children and young people and who can translate vision into excellent practice, service innovation and lasting improvement.

About the Role

As Head of Corporate Parenting, you will provide strategic and operational leadership across our Corporate Parenting services, ensuring children and young people receive the highest quality support throughout their journey in care and into adulthood.

You will lead services that place relationships at the heart of practice, ensuring children experience consistency, stability and meaningful connections with the people who matter most to them.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and vision for Corporate Parenting services, ensuring excellent outcomes for children in care, care experienced young adults and those requiring permanence. 
• Lead and inspire high-performing teams, creating a culture of accountability, learning, innovation and continuous improvement. Champion children's voices and lived experiences, ensuring they influence service design, delivery and decision-making at every level. 
• Lead the development of the Fostering Hub, strengthening fostering sufficiency, supporting recruitment and retention, and delivering innovative approaches that improve outcomes for children and foster families.
• Drive excellence in permanence planning, fostering and adoption services, ensuring children experience stable, nurturing and loving family environments. 
• Build and maintain strong partnerships across the council and wider system, including health, education, housing, safeguarding partners and the voluntary sector. 
• Lead service transformation and improvement activity, using performance intelligence, quality assurance and learning to continually strengthen practice and outcomes. 
• Ensure robust governance arrangements and compliance with statutory responsibilities, safeguarding requirements and corporate parenting duties. 
• Contribute to the strategic leadership of Children's Services, supporting the delivery of wider organisational priorities and ambitions for children and families.

About You

You will be a visible and authentic leader who can inspire confidence in children and young people, staff, partners, elected members and regulators, while maintaining an unwavering focus on improving children's experiences and outcomes. You will champion corporate parenting across the council and wider partnership, ensuring that children in care and care experienced young adults are at the heart of strategic decision-making and have access to the opportunities, support and aspirations that any good parent would want for their own child.

You will bring:

• Substantial management experience within children's social care.
• A proven ability to lead and motivate multi-disciplinary teams through change and improvement.
• Deep knowledge of corporate parenting responsibilities, permanence, safeguarding and children's social care legislation.
• Strong strategic and operational leadership skills, with the ability to translate vision into measurable impact.
• Experience of working effectively with partners, elected members and regulators.
• A commitment to relationship-based practice and ensuring children's voices influence decision-making at every level.

Most importantly, you will share our belief that children in care and care experienced should have the same opportunities, aspirations and support that we would want for our own children.

What we can offer you

• A real impact: Make a tangible difference in the lives of children and young people, helping to secure a brighter future for our communities. 
• Career growth: Benefit from comprehensive professional development opportunities and the chance to lead transformative change within a supportive, inclusive environment. 
• Work-life balance: Enjoy a modern hybrid working model that values flexibility while offering the stability of a collaborative, purpose-driven team environment. 
• Competitive remuneration: A package that reflects your skills, expertise, and commitment to excellence in public service. 

Join Us

This is a career-defining opportunity to lead one of the most important services within Children's Services and make a lasting difference to the lives of children and young people.

If you are an ambitious and inspirational leader who is passionate about improving outcomes for children in care and care leavers, we would love to hear from you.

How to Apply

Please submit a supporting statement of no more than four A4 pages outlining:

• Your experience of leading children's social care services and delivering service improvement.
• Why you are the right candidate for this role and what you would bring to Central Bedfordshire Council.