Our children and families services

We are so proud of our Children and Families’ service. Recently rated as Outstanding by OFSTED and currently in the running for a prestigious Local Government Chronical award recognising the best children’s services in the country, we offer a family approach to the care of children in Redbridge across a range of areas from adoption and fostering to community social care and children with disabilities to our family intervention teams.

We can provide such strong services because of our highly qualified and motivated staff who put children and young people at the heart of everything we do. We offer a range of roles in our services for social workers, family support workers and others at all levels, supported by experienced managers and a variety of learning and development opportunities.

We also continually develop our services to respond to emerging best practice so that we can continue to offer outstanding services to the children and young people in our borough.

Find out more about our services and how we work on the following pages.

We look forward to you joining us in Redbridge.

Adrian Loades, Corporate Director of People

Caroline Cutts, Operational Director for Children and Families

About Children and Families Service

“Senior managers demonstrate relentless drive and ambition for children.…leading to the provision of consistently strong and highly effective services for them.”

“This exemplary management has created conditions that afford workers the time, professional expertise and capacity to get to know children and young people well.  This best practice secures positive experiences and good progress for children.”

Ofsted June 2019

Redbridge Council is proud of its ‘outstanding’ children’s social care services as rated by Ofsted in June 2019. We are one of only a few authorities who have achieved this top score under the new inspection frame. Highlights from the report included praises for:

  • Exceptional leadership
  • Promotion of best practice and innovation
  • Highly effective practice
  • Happy and supported staff
  • Meeting emerging problems such as gangs, county lines and exploitation
  • Thoughtful social workers
  • Valued foster carers

In addition to many benefits, we can also offer you:

  • stable and supportive leadership teams
  • a commitment to manageable workloads
  • strong and collaborative working with partner agencies
  • friendly and welcoming teams

Our approach

Redbridge is a diverse borough committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Our approach is about enabling Social Workers to build relationships with service users to deliver real, meaningful change for children and young people.

Our roles

Here are the roles we have available:

  • Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) - Practice Managers, Social Workers

Taking referrals relating to children and young people at risk, working in a fast paced, truly multi-agency environment

The Redbridge MASH has been operational since 2014. It was judged as outstanding in the 2016 Ofsted inspection and described as a “model of excellence” in the 2019 Ofsted inspection. The MASH service has worked hard to embed a reflective and learning culture in what is a busy and fast paced environment. The MASH offers social workers and managers lead areas and opportunities to develop and build on specialisms. Individual experience and knowledge is valued and this team is well known for driving innovative ideas to manage a sophisticated and highly effective front door.

  • Emergency Duty Teams - Senior Social Workers

Dealing with out of hours incidents relating to children and young people

The four borough Emergency Duty service is a highly effective out of hours emergency response service for children and their families in the London Boroughs of Redbridge, Waltham Forest, Havering and Barking and Dagenham. It was judged outstanding in the 2019 Ofsted inspection and described as “child-focussed” and a service that “is appropriately challenging to other professionals when needed”.

The Emergency Duty Team ensures that all children accommodated out of hours are visited and seen. The service has developed and promoted innovation with regards to children in custody via advocacy and support in line with the Home Office Concordat on children in custody. This is an exciting and fast paced service where staff are fully supported by managers throughout evenings, weekends and public holidays.

  • Child Protection and Assessment Teams - Practice Managers, Social Workers

Carrying out assessments of children and young people at risk

  • Children with Disabilities Teams - Social Workers

Offering support to children, young people and families affected by long term disabilities

  • Community Social Work Teams - Practice Managers, Senior Practitioners and Social Workers

Longer term support to children, young people and families in need or subject to Child Protection Plans

  • Looked After Children Teams - Social Workers

Support to children and young people who are looked after by the Local Authority

  • Adoption, Fostering and Placements Service - Social Workers

Social Workers for the Adoption Team to engage in working with potential adopters, family finding and post-adoption support