It’s all about care

The opportunity to meet and work with inspirational leaders with a vast amount of experience and knowledge is so valuable to a ‘baby’ DCS (as I keep being called!). I’m extremely grateful to everyone for their offers of advice and support alongside the very amusing/alarming anecdotes and stories about what to expect as a DCS, thank you all!

I had a much-needed week off last week and visited Berwick upon Tweed accompanied by my better, and some say long suffering, other half. It was lovely to catch up with some old friends, enjoy the beautiful scenery and countryside and to have some time to think and reflect…inevitably for me that means thinking about work but importantly about why I/we do what we do.

Care is the simple answer and when I say ‘care’ I mean kindness and compassion. I was reflecting on the ever-increasing challenges that colleagues across the whole of the children’s workforce grapple with on a daily basis within a context of decreasing resources, increasing demand and increasing regulation and inspection activity – all of which places a further burden on us all.

Despite these very real challenges, we all strive to keep children’s voices and experiences at the very heart of what we do. That is a real testament to a committed and dedicated workforce that is hugely inspirational. And we do it because we care.

We care that decisions for children are made in a timely way and that permanence arrangements for children are stable and loving, we care that children are provided with an inclusive education and the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities are met, we care that we meet the needs of separated migrant children often traumatised by their experiences, we care that children leaving care are well supported and transition successfully into adulthood and independence and we care that children who enter the criminal justice system are cared for as children first. I could go on because the list is never ending, just like the commitment of our workforce.

Furthermore, as a sector we are strong in advocating for positive change in social policy to improve the lives of children and families because of the deeply embedded values based within a social justice framework. Again, because we know and care about the impact this can have on the lives of children and families. We understand the strength of relational and restorative practice models and the value of meaningful co-production, all of which to me demonstrates how much we care about the people and communities we have the privilege of working with.

And whilst we can and must do more, we care about our most valuable asset, our workforce. The increased focus on well-being, practice and career development are issues leaders must continue to prioritise alongside improving opportunities for colleagues from the global majority and championing anti-racist practice.

So whist I did think about work on my holidays, the time to reflect on why I do the job was a rejuvenating process and I would encourage all colleagues to take a few minutes and have a think about all the truly fantastic work you all do every day, it is truly impressive.

Right, bring on that to do list!

Harmesh Bhogal is director of children’s services at Bedford Borough Council and elected director at the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS). This blog was first published on the ADCS website.