Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Service
Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Service
The Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Service plays a vital role in setting clear expectations, providing support, and offering constructive challenges across all areas of children's social care and early help.
Its goal is to ensure that we deliver the highest quality services to children, young people, and families, to allow them to achieve the best possible outcomes.
The service is dedicated to understanding the experiences of all the children and young people we serve, as well as their families. This insight allows us to connect them with the most effective support from professionals and their networks of family and friends.
To enhance the services, we conduct internal assessments of our work and actively seek feedback from children and families. We also collaborate with the Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership (MSCP) to strengthen our partnerships and benefit from their independent evaluations of our services.
Practice Development Service
Our Practice Development Service is dedicated to fostering improvement and development through:
- auditing and quality assurance
- providing learning and development opportunities
- offering targeted support for practitioners and managers.
Additionally, the service supports:
- students, apprentices, and newly qualified social workers
- policy initiatives and participation efforts
- training and implementation of our practice model 'Signs of Safety'
- recruitment and retention strategies
- development programs for first-line managers.
Beyond quality assurance and practice improvement, the service prioritise staff care and well-being. The goal is to grow a culture where effective practices thrive, and all staff members feel valued and supported.
The team includes:
- a practice development service manager
- a principal social worker
- practice development leads
- a project officer.
Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Team
Our LADO team is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the management of allegations against professionals who work with children. We provide advice and guidance to all organisations in Medway that serve children, including those in the voluntary sector. Additionally, we handle all aspects of education safeguarding.
Our team includes:
- a safeguarding service manager
- LADOs
- an education safeguarding officer
- a support officer
- designated social workers.
Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) Team
Our IRO team is dedicated to building strong relationships with children and young people, holding high aspirations for them both now and in the future. We provide independent oversight of the care they receive, ensuring they have the best opportunities and life chances to thrive.
Our focus is on achieving permanence for our children, enabling them to grow into their best selves. Our statutory responsibilities include chairing the child’s review and continuously monitoring their care plan.
Our team comprises:
- an IRO service manager
- independent reviewing officers
- a fostering reviewing officer.
Read our annual report from the IRO for more insights.
Child Protection (CP) Conferencing Chair team
We facilitate child protection conferences in situations where parents are striving to provide a safe and nurturing home for their children.
We work with families in a strengths-based, non-judgmental way. This ensures families know clearly what our concerns are and what they need to do to address those worries. This is to enable them to have the best opportunity to make changes that will support their children.
We have worked to embed the 'Signs of Safety' approach into our conferences and work with families and to provide independent oversight and scrutiny.
Our team consists of:
- a CP Conference service manager
- CP conference chairs.