Head of RAA Operations

Coram Academy Ltd; London, Greater London; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Coram Academy Ltd is seeking a leader for their Regional Adoption Agency operations. This role involves professional leadership and ensuring compliance with statutory requirements while supporting diverse communities and vulnerable children.

Responsibilities

• Lead RAA operations across local authority partners.
• Provide professional leadership for staff and services.
• Ensure outcomes for children in adoption meet best practices.

Job description

Coram is committed to improving the lives of the UK’s most vulnerable children and young people.

We support children and young people from birth to independence, creating a change that lasts a lifetime.

Coram is the UK’s oldest children’s charity founded by Thomas Coram in London helping vulnerable children and young people since 1739. Today, the Coram group helps more than one million children, young people, families and professionals every year by providing access to the skills and opportunities they need to thrive.

About Coram Ambitious for Adoption RAA

Ambitious for Adoption is an established regional adoption agency that is organised on a hub and spoke service model. The activities of adopter recruitment and assessment of prospective adopters, the adoption panel, child placement support and the overall governance of the regional adoption agency is located at Coram Campus in Bloomsbury in London.

The activities of family finding and statutory adoption support (including families/individuals seeking adoption support in the area) is provided by Coram regional adoption agency staff located within the partner local authorities, alongside the wider children’s and multidisciplinary teams to ensure best practice for children where adoption becomes the plan. Our regional adoption partner agencies are: City of London, London Boroughs of Harrow, Bromley, Hillingdon, Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster, Redbridge, Waltham Forest, and Slough Childrenfirst. The service is focussed on best outcomes for children and building strong support for adoptive families. The RAA has a dedicated governance board made up of senior representatives of participating local authorities. This is an exciting role, building upon the very positive outcomes emerging from the delivery of the RAA since 2019 and taking forward the outcomes of an RAA review and adoption modernisation agenda with the benefits of an outstanding Ofsted rate VAA and proven record of Coram’s dedication to children.

About the role

Coram Ambitious for Adoption is a unique Regional Adoption Agency, being a Voluntary Adoption Agency commissioned to deliver the adoption services for nine local authorities.

This role is a Coram Appointment to lead the RAA operations across our local authority partners providing professional leadership staff and services and outcomes for children in adoption consistent with best practice and fulfilment of statutory and regulatory requirements.

Coram is an equal opportunities employer and we believe a diverse workforce enables us to improve the services to the children and families we help. We are genuinely committed to encouraging candidates from all sections of the community we seek to support. This includes those from global majority ethnic backgrounds, those that identify as LGBQT+, those with disabilities, those with lived experience of care, those with neuro-diversity, and those from other groups who are underrepresented at Coram.

If applicants feel comfortable, we would encourage them to draw on lived experience as well as professional experience in their personal statement as part of their application.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and where appropriate will require the successful applicant to undertake a check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Registered Charity No. 312278.

To view the full job description and person specification, please click on the link to the vacancy and see the supporting documents.

21- 28 hours per week

Location:

Coram Campus, Bloomsbury, London, WC1N 1AZ