The Child and Family Agency was established on 1st 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

Post Specific Service: About Tusla’s Quality Assurance & Regulation Directorate
Tusla’s Quality Assurance Directorate is concerned with promoting continuous improvement and effective risk management in services for children and families. It delivers its functions though the following functions:

Children’s Services Regulation
The Early Years Inspectorate is the statutory regulator of early years services in Ireland. Regulation includes registration, inspection and, where necessary, enforcement. Early years services include; pre-school services, school-age services and childminding services. The Inspectorate is responsible for registration, inspection, and oversight of early years services to ensure they meet legal requirements and quality standards. Its core purpose is to promote the quality, safety and appropriate care of children through robust regulation, including assessment of governance, safeguarding, children’s health, welfare and development, and the suitability of premises for the care and education of children.

The Early Years Registration Department processes applications for new early years services, registration renewals every three years, change-in-circumstance requests, and notifications of services ceasing operations. It handles registrations for pre-schools, school age services, and childminders across the country.

The Early Years Inspection Department currently consists of 12 regional inspection teams (this is to expand) that regulate pre-school, school age, and childminding services through on-site inspections, pre-registration assessments, and visits to unregistered services. They assess compliance with legal requirements, monitor service quality and safety, and produce publicly available inspection and assessment reports following quality review. Teams also support providers through engagement to promote understanding of regulations and continuous quality improvement, escalating to enforcement where needed to protect children.

The Enforcement Department manages the National Registration Enforcement Panel (NREP),a quasi-judicial body for law enforcement and regulatory investigations within Tusla's Children's Services Regulation. It addresses concerns about services, Garda vetting, prosecutions, and the suitable person's panel, applying proportionate actions guided by safeguarding, compliance promotion, transparency, and accountability principles.

The Regulatory Practice Development Department (RPDD) supports the development of policy, guidance, standard operating procedures, and sector-facing materials. It leads the engagement with many different stakeholder groups many established by the Inspectorate which support regulatory awareness and understanding, collaborative work and engagement with the purpose of improving regulatory compliance levels. The department produces reports, conducts data analysis, generates KPIs and dashboards across the Inspectorate. It leads and administers the Quality Assurance Management system for the Inspectorates. It runs the internal audit programme which finds areas for improvement across the system and it supports external auditors’ work.

Other Children’s Services Regulation functions
Alternative Education Assessment: Under Section 14 of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, the team conducts assessments to check if children educated at home, in non-recognised schools, or independent settings meet minimum education standards. They place qualifying children on the statutory register of those educated outside recognised schools.

Alternative Care Regulation: The team monitors and reports on alternative care settings for children who cannot live with their families The service is responsible currently for the registration and inspection of non-statutory residential care settings for young people, as well as the monitoring and audit of non-statutory foster care providers.

Child Safeguarding Statement Compliance Unit (CSSCU): The CSSCU has a national centralised function for the receipt and processing of referrals and notifications of failure to furnish Tusla with a copy of a relevant organisation’s safeguarding statement made under Article 12(1) of the Children First Act 2015. The office is also responsible for appropriately supporting relevant agencies in achieving compliance under section 12 (1) – (5) of the legislation.

Main Duties and Responsibilities
Professional knowledge
•The legislation as relevant to Children’s Services Regulatory Functions.
•The principals that underpin administration of regulatory functions. •Can demonstrate best practice in the oversight of administrative systems.
•Purpose and role of a regulatory inspection function.

Managing & Delivering Results (Operational Excellence)
•To support the Head Regulatory Functions and the of senior management team in the planning, development, and implementation of a responsive and effective national programme in line with operational plans and national priorities as they arise.
•To provide leadership to the Regulatory department in the development, implementation and maintenance of quality improvement systems to support the department in delivering its business objectives.
•To provide advice and guidance to Head of Regulatory Function in relation to all operational matters within the department.
•To provide advice and guidance to Head of Regulatory Function in relation to all operational matters within the department.
oThe notification of incidents process,
oThe Multiple provider oversight project
oThe Inspector Training Programme
oThe Inspector resource Toolkits
oThe Inspection processes on TCM
oPolicy Practice and Thresholding Decision function.
oThe Data capture and analytics function
•Identify trends, risks and emerging issues arising from regulatory activity.
•To manage the Operational functions of the Inspection teams and resources nationally in line with regulation and Early Years Inspectorate national policies and procedures.
•To maintain systems and procedures to support oversight of the work of staff.
•To liaise as appropriate with service providers, stakeholders, and the other statutory bodies in relation to the sector being regulated, i.e. early years.
•Ensure quality assurance processes are in place that support the delivery and implementation of an effective inspection service.
•Manage external relationships with other regulatory bodies and key stakeholders.
•Provide editorial oversight, guidance and advice to Inspection and Registration Managers or inspectors regarding the production of inspection reports and ensure all reports are prepared to the highest standards.
•Convene and contribute to regional interagency meetings.
•To represent the Inspectorate on regional and national forums.
•To participate on the National Registration & Enforcement panel.
•To ensure that the register of services is maintained at operational level and monthly updates on activity are returned in a timely fashion.                                                                                              •Maintain and report on operational data in a timely manner to maintain high quality standards and operational excellence. This includes setting performance indicators for the operational division of the service.
•Monitor the regulatory department activity nationally and ensure inspections/activity are intelligence led and responsive to areas of concern.
•Provide service delivery and planning reports on the operations as required, contribute to the development of business plans and annual reports.
•Ensure the inspectorate meets annual operational targets and corporate plan and business plan actions.
•Ensure the implementation of current and evolving legislation, policies and procedures, guidelines, protocols, and standardised operation procedures.
•Provide professional leadership in the delivery of a high-quality service.
•Ensure the provision of appropriate professional supervision to all relevant staff in your area
•To manage the operational side of the management of unsolicited information received regarding an early years’ service.
•To respond to any complaints or protected disclosures from the public and others in respect of the performance of the inspectorate in line with policy and procedures
•Supports audits and implements the learnings.

Teamwork, Leadership & Building and Maintaining Relations
•Lead, motivate, support, and supervise the staff assigned to the regulatory department.
•Support employees wellbeing and manage employee relation matters in accordance with HR policies
•Take a lead role in the implementation of and ensuring compliance with all policy, procedures, and Standard Operating Procedures.
•Be responsible for the overall management and operational performance nationally in line with good professional practice and subject to agreed policy directives and priorities.
•Effectively manage resource requirements and ensure requisite resources are in place to meet operational needs.
•Ensure the CRS / EY service complies with relevant HR and other policies, procedures, and guidelines.
•Contribute to the development of policies, procedures, and guidelines in relation to the Early Years’ Service, consulting with staff as appropriate.
•Ensure that there are appropriate systems in place to gather relevant data and information.
•Build strong relationships with CSR colleagues, staff across Tusla directorates and externally.
•Deal with under performance in a timely and constructive manner.
•Respond to immediate operational matters and areas of risk and concern.
•Lead by example to build a positive culture where staff are motivated and respected.
•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 team.
•Any other duties that may be assigned to him/her by the Head of Inspection & Assessment or designated senior manager.

Information, Complaints, Adverse Incident Reporting & Unsolicited Information
•Ensure compliance with the systems and processes in place to engage with and respond to individuals who express concerns (and or complaints) in an effective, informative, public-friendly, and respectful manner.
•Ensure compliance with the incident management system.                                                                     •To ensure that CSR Senior Leadership Team (SLT) are provided with updates and information concerning the management of high-risk services.
•Ensure timely and high-quality responses to parliamentary questions and political representations.
•Ensure compliance with a high standard of documentation, including service user files in accordance with local guidelines and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and Data Protection Act.
•Provide analytical and insight into the findings from inspections.
•Contribute to CSR publications.
•As required, perform the role of complaint/review officer.
•Prepare documents and cases for presentation at regulatory enforcement forums.
•Ensure that available resources are utilised effectively.
•To manage and escalate relevant regulatory matters ("RENs") to the National Service Director, as appropriate.
•To stay informed on contemporary regulatory development theories and methods, sharing insights with colleagues as relevant.

Commitment to providing a quality service
•Drive consistency and quality in all activities with decision making and reporting.
•Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, learning and professional excellence in the inspection department.
•Be flexible and adaptable in the 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.
•Accept and act on feedback appropriately.
•Establish and maintain strong and positive communication with other Tusla directorates and stakeholders.
•Promote participation in the implementation of any change management projects.
•Lead in the continuous implementation of the Early Years Quality Management System and respond to external and internal audit findings.

Critical Analysis & Decision Making
•Rapidly prepare, assimilate, and analyse complex information.
•Anticipates problems and considers the impact of decisions before taking action.
•Support the gathering, analysis and reporting of data and information to support risk- based decision making and judgements through dashboards and bespoke reports.
•Ability to respond to urgent issues in a timely manner.
•Provide effective direction on issues escalated from staff
 

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.

Applicants must by the closing date of application have the following:
•A minimum a QQI Level 8 qualification or equivalent as relevant to the role
•Have a minimum of 5 years’ post qualification experience at senior management level in an organisation of comparable scale and complexity
•Experience in a regulatory and/or inspection system
•Experience managing and working collaboratively with multiple internal and external stakeholders to achieve results                                                                                                                                          •Significant people management
•Please demonstrate that 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.