Working to enable the transformation of children services is:
- Rachael Wardell, Executive Director of Children, Families and Lifelong Learning
Please see below for the vision for transforming children's social work.
Rachael Wardell, Executive Director of Children, Families and Lifelong Learning
In Surrey, we want children to really be able to be rooted in their families, in their schools, in their
communities. This means supporting families so that children can live with them whenever that's safely possible, and where that's not possible, holding Surrey's children close to home – in Surrey foster care or residential care if we possibly can and looking further afield only when that's in the best interests of the child.
What this means for our practice is that we are child and family-centred; we look to build family resilience through multi-professional support, at the same time as being assured children are safe. We understand that achieving this means prioritising relationships, so that families can build stable, trusting relationships with the social workers and other professionals in their lives. That stability and trust become the foundation from which we provide both the high support and high challenge that helps children and families thrive.
From early support and prevention, through our family resilience, and safeguarding adolescents work, to our looked after children and care leaving services and our support for foster care, special guardianship and adoption we are united in our commitment to enable every child to achieve their full potential.
Our Academy supports us in these ambitions by making available a huge range of professional training and development opportunities across all domains of our work. We know that by supporting staff to achieve and progress, we get better at helping children and families too.