The Child and Family Agency was established on 1^st January 2014 and is responsible for a range of statutory functions including provision of child protection, alternative care, specified regulatory services and a range of family support services.  The Agency has commenced a major improvement programme with significant focus on Practice, Culture and Structure.

The Agency currently has responsibility for a budget of circa €1.2billion and delivers its services through over 5,500 people in 259 locations across the Country.

The Child and Family Agency has responsibility for the following range of services:

• Child Protection and Welfare
• Parenting, Family Support and Early Help Services
• Alternative Care
• Birth Information & Tracing and Adoption
• Tusla Education Support Services (TESS)
• Children’s Service Regulation
• Counselling and Therapeutic Supports

Further information is available on www.tusla.ie

Purpose of Role

Review capacity vs occupancy on a daily basis, examine barriers to occupancy and support service leaders to address same

Identify the actions required to remove barriers to enable admission/discharge as appropriate.

Collaborate with existing national leads to enable improvement.

Work across Residential and Foster Care, ensuring bed occupancy systems in place are utilised and updated daily enabling forecasting in relation to demand/capacity etc.

The role involves oversight, collaborative working with existing managers to provide assurance re maximum utilisation of placements, across statutory, C&V and Private placements, enhancing and supporting existing roles.

The Placement Capacity Improvement Manager is responsible for supporting strategic and operational leadership to optimise bed capacity, placement availability, service flow and operational efficiency across Children's Residential Services (CRS), Special Care, Fostering Services and the Separated Children Seeking International Protection, Emergency Arrangements etc.

The post holder will support existing staffing leads on the development, implementation and continuous improvement of national and regional capacity management strategies, ensuring that children and young people are placed safely, appropriately and in a timely manner while maximising the effective use of available residential, foster care and specialist care resources.

The role will work collaboratively across Children's Residential Services, Fostering, Special Care, Emergency Services, Alternative Care, Social Work Departments and external providers to improve placement pathways, reduce delays in accessing appropriate care, strengthen service integration and optimise capacity across the continuum of care.

The post holder will support existing leadership in demand forecasting, operational planning, resource allocation, performance management and service improvement, using data, quality assurance and governance frameworks to drive evidence-based decision-making and sustainable improvements in service delivery.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Operational Capacity Management

• Support efficient operational management of bed capacity across the Agency.
• Monitor occupancy, placement availability and projected demand to ensure optimum utilisation of resources.
• With existing management develop proactive capacity plans to respond to changing service demands.
• Support co-ordination of emergency placement responses and complex admission pathways.
• Support national and regional capacity planning initiatives and escalation processes during periods of increased operational pressure.

Service Flow & Placement Coordination

• Identify improvements in placement pathways to reduce delays and improve outcomes for children and young people.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the Agency.
• Monitor and report on placement utilisation and identify opportunities for increased efficiency.
• Develop systems that improve service responsiveness and reduce unnecessary placement delays.

Performance & Efficiency Improvement

• Analyse service activity, occupancy levels, demand trends and capacity data.
• Support development of KPIs and performance dashboards to support operational decision making.
• Identify operational bottlenecks and implement service improvement initiatives.
• With relevant colleagues and Directorates Lead Lean and continuous improvement projects across the Agency.
• Produce operational reports for senior management as required.

Workforce & Resource Planning

• With relevant Directorates coordinate workforce planning to align staffing with service demand.
• Support recruitment planning and deployment of staff.
• Optimise resource allocation to maximise operational efficiency.
• With colleague monitor financial performance and promote value-for-money initiatives.

Governance & Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with Child Care legislation, Tusla policies, HIQA Standards and national guidance.
• Lead risk assessment relating to capacity pressures and placement shortages.
• Develop escalation frameworks for high-risk situations.
• Monitor governance arrangements through audits, inspections and quality assurance programmes.
• Conduct After Action Reviews as required enabling learning and growth.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Build collaborative relationships with stakeholders.
• Represent the Agency at operational and strategic meetings as required.
• Support integrated working across multidisciplinary teams.

Change & Transformation

• Lead organisational change programmes that improve operational effectiveness.
• Support digital transformation initiatives relating to placement and capacity management.
• Develop innovative approaches to maximise capacity.
• Embed continuous improvement methodologies across Agency.

Teamwork, Leadership & Building and Maintaining Relations

• Share information with the wider team as appropriate.
• Be accountable for own work and that of others as appropriate.
• Work on own initiative as well as part of a wider team.
• Co-operate and work in harmony with other teams and disciplines.
• Lead by example, motivate and encourage others, build team commitment.
• Deal with under performance in a timely and constructive manner.

Commitment to providing a quality service

• Be flexible and adaptable in his / her approach to work, embrace change and adapt work practices accordingly.
• Promote and maintain a quality customer-focused environment.
• Monitor efficiency within own area of responsibility and take remedial action or notify supervisor as appropriate.
• Continuously seek to improve systems / processes.

Education & Training

• Maintain standards of practice and levels of professional knowledge by participating in continuous professional development initiatives and attendance at courses as appropriate.
• Engage in career and professional development planning.
• Oversee the provision of a framework for the promotion of staff development and training by making recommendations with regard to the ongoing education, mentoring, training and in-service needs of the inspection and monitoring team.
• Pursue continuous professional development in order to develop professional knowledge and keep updated with current and relevant HR legislation.
• Provide training with the team and region to share knowledge of relevant HR Procedures/ Processes.

Health & Safety

• Comply with and contribute to the development of policies, procedures, guidelines and safe professional practice and adhere to relevant legislation, regulations and standards.
• Have a working knowledge of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) Standards as they apply to the service for example National Standards for Child Protection and Care and comply with associated Tusla – Child and Family Agency protocols for implementing and maintaining these standards as appropriate to the role.
• To support, promote and actively participate in sustainable energy, water and waste initiatives to create a more sustainable, low carbon and efficient health service.

The above Job Description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to him/her from time to time and to contribute to the development of the post while in office. 

Please refer to the Candidate Information pack attached to this campaign for full and further detail.

Applicants must by the closing date of application have the following:

• Have a third level qualification as relevant to the role
• Have a minimum of 3 years' senior operational management experience within health or social care.
• Proven experience managing complex services in high-pressure environments.
• Extensive experience in capacity planning, resource allocation and operational decision-making.
• Strong knowledge of governance, quality assurance and risk management.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated success in service redesign and continuous improvement.
• Experience using performance information, performance management, KPIs and operational data to improve services.
• Excellent communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong financial and workforce planning experience.
• Ability to manage competing priorities while maintaining quality and safety.
• Experience leading change management and service transformation initiatives.
• Have the requisite knowledge and ability (including a high standard of suitability and management ability) for the proper discharge of the duties of the office.

Health

A candidate for and any person holding the office must be fully competent and capable of undertaking the duties attached to the office and be in a state of health such as would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service.

Character

Each candidate for and any person holding the office must be of good character