Executive Director

About the Halton Children's Aid Society

The Halton Children's Aid Society is a leading organization dedicated to protecting children and youth, strengthening their well-being, and supporting lifelong, enduring relationships. Founded in 1914, the Society has a rich history of providing community-based, child and youth-centered, family-focused services. Our mission is to make a positive impact on the lives of children, youth, and families in Halton Region.

The Opportunity

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Executive Director to lead our organization and drive our mission forward. As the Chief Executive Officer, you will be responsible for stewarding the vision, mission, and guiding principles of the Halton Children's Aid Society, providing leadership and oversight for 150 staff and a $23 Million operating budget. You will be expected to uphold the Society's values of wellness, empowerment, diversity, and equity, integrity, and accountability.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership and Management

1. Lead the Society in accordance with the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, its regulations, standards, and guidelines, and the policies and directives of the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services.
2. Oversee daily operations, protecting and maintaining assets, monitoring expenditures, and achieving goals and objectives, applying enterprise risk management and continuous quality improvement practices.
3. Set the overall direction of the Society, exemplifying and inspiring behaviors, actions, and attitudes consistent with the Society's mission, vision, values, goals, objectives, and performance expectations.
4. Provide strategic direction to the senior leadership team on service delivery and guide them to assess future needs and priorities and prepare for the impact of emerging trends.
5. Lead the Society through change as an enthusiastic champion, guaranteeing organizational success, interdepartmental collaboration, goal achievement, and client satisfaction.
6. Promote a fair, consistent, equitable, inclusive, and respectful work environment that respects privacy, confidentiality, and cultural sensitivity, encourages approachability, staff participation, fosters a sense of belonging, teamwork, and positive employee relations, provides mentorship for developing leaders, while managing client understanding and expectations of the services to be provided.
7. Provide oversight to recruitment, onboarding, learning and development, performance evaluation, coaching, attendance, discipline, and termination according to internal policies and guidelines and within the context of collective agreement, Employment Standards Act, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
8. Ensure effective distribution and utilization of staff in accordance with desired productivity levels, program goals, and guidelines, and conducting annual performance appraisals that support staff in establishing and attaining their goals.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB)

1. Foster an inclusive, accessible environment where all employees have a sense of belonging, and they, along with service recipients and volunteers, are valued and respected. Demonstrate strong knowledge, understanding, and operational experience working within an anti-oppressive, anti-racism, and equity lens and framework that is responsive to the knowledge and understanding of the culture, history, and current oppressions experienced by racialized communities and individuals facing disabilities.
2. Ensure that all child welfare professionals are properly educated on the culture, history, impacts of residential schools, and current oppressions experienced by Indigenous peoples.
3. Champion the commitment of the implementation of the applicable Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the nine OACAS provincial commitments.
4. Establish as an important priority that placements of Indigenous children into care be culturally appropriate, and that all potential caregivers have the necessary cultural resources and tools prior to the placement of any children.
5. Create and lead the Society's EDIB initiatives and policy improvements to foster belonging, ensure healthy and inclusive policy development and practice, enhance inclusion, and encourage diverse perspectives and lived experiences while ensuring ethnic, spiritual, linguistic, neurodiverse, familial, cultural, and ability-based differences are respected and acted upon in accordance with the Society's Code of Conduct and Confidentiality, Equal Opportunity, Anti-Oppression/Anti-Racism, and Harassment & Discrimination policies.
6. Consult with key internal and external stakeholders to further the Society's EDIB and anti-oppression objectives and to ensure responsiveness and accountability to diverse communities.

Board Governance

1. Consult with the Board on all governance matters relevant to the Society's mandate and work with the Board's sub-committees to ensure open communication, timely information transfer, effective governance, and compliance with all policies and procedures.
2. Present budgets and applicable business plans to the Board for their approval, provide input and oversight for the overall financial management and annual audit, and implement systems to ensure accountability and transparency.
3. Develop the Society's strategic plan in partnership with the Board, as well as goals, objectives, policies, plans, and programs, incorporating equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging principles, and execute them in accordance with key performance indicators (KPIs) and community needs.
4. Assist in the recruitment, development, and education of Board members, act as their resource for policy development, and provide leadership in collective bargaining within the Board's set parameters.

Public Relations and Relationship Management

1. Represent the Society as spokesperson on controversial and sensitive matters involving a high degree of scrutiny to the media, public, other social services agencies, provincial ministries, and policymaking/funding bodies with a high level of confidence, sensitivity, clarity, and political acuity, ensuring ethnic, spiritual, linguistic, neurodiverse, familial, cultural, and ability-based differences are respected and impacts of staff and leadership are considered.
2. Represent the Society on provincial and joint CAS/community initiatives, demonstrating advanced political acuity to ensure successful representation and chairing committees as required.
3. Establish and maintain effective relationships with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services and local and regional governments, funders, the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS), community partners, the Indigenous community, and others to represent the Board of Directors, collectively promote the interests of children and youth, identify organizational needs, develop strategic options and plans to capitalize on opportunities for the Society, and share values and opportunities for collaboration while building rapport and establishing/developing credibility of the Society.
4. Represent the Society in critical situations and crisis interventions, employing exceptional problem/issue/conflict resolution and consensus-building skills to manage and direct divergent views and to ensure the most beneficial, collaborative outcomes. Be available on a 24-hour basis, seven days per week, to respond to emergencies and mobilize resources.
5. Develop and maintain a positive relationship with staff and labor representatives, ensuring that organizational values and equity and inclusive principles are embedded within all programs and activities and fostering a supportive culture across all divisions and locations.
6. Ensure an ongoing productive and collaborative relationship with the Executive Director of the Children's Aid Foundation of Halton and the Foundation's Board of Directors.
7. Maintain an ongoing productive working relationship with the Executive Director of the Our Kids Network, the Champions Committee, and the contributing funders of the network. As the secretariat of the Our Kids Network, provide oversight to ensure effective financial, information technology, and human resources services are provided.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Experience, Skills, and Abilities

1. Strong knowledge, courage, and commitment to truth and reconciliation, anti-oppression, anti-discrimination, anti-racism (including anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism), equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Has a track record of championing and integrating equity, diversity, and inclusion into strategy and initiatives, resulting in positive transformations in culture and service delivery.
2. Understand the difference between equality and equity, between equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (EDIB) and truth and reconciliation. Acknowledge the importance of tailoring services to diverse communities and understand the profound impact that child welfare has had on marginalized populations.
3. Understand the societal and systemic causes for the disproportionate representation of Indigenous and Black families in the child welfare system. Committed to driving systemic change aimed at reducing disproportionate representation. Understand/appreciate the values, traditions, and the need to provide culturally sensitive services to rapidly growing and changing, diverse communities in Halton Region.
4. Master's Degree in Social Work (preferred) with 15+ years of experience in progressively responsible social services leadership roles, preferably in child welfare or children's mental health.
5. Experience reporting to and working with a passionate, committed, involved Board, advising members on issues, trends, operations, and changing client needs. Understand Board governance and can build strong relationships and trust with Board members through transparency and communication.
6. Experienced in creating a vision and a strategic plan and working with a Board and leadership team of a smaller agency to implement the plan, while adapting to changes in funding, legislation, and child welfare system redesign. Is not afraid to speak up, push boundaries, and advocate for the Society.
7. Authentic, visible, open, compassionate, and caring, with strong emotional intelligence, values, and ethical foundation. Able to build trust and practice these values and lead change with compassion while balancing operational needs and maintaining a healthy work culture through listening to staff, acquiring their feedback, and providing robust in-house wellness programs and initiatives.
8. A visionary inspirational leader and strategic thinker, able to empower and motivate internal teams to work together with community partners to deliver the best possible services to the children, youth, and families served by the Society. Adept in developing, attracting, and retaining high-performing talent.
9. Experienced in fostering positive relationships with labor unions and participating in collective bargaining. Able to listen to/interact with employees working in hybrid models, when changing or improving practices, and providing strong leadership in times of crisis and public or media scrutiny.
10. Strong financial/business acumen, with experience providing oversight to financial reporting, budgeting, internal audits/controls, and enterprise risk management. Comprehends the child welfare agency funding model, budgeting process, and other financial information and is experienced in communicating strategic financial matters to a Board to ensure stability, sustainability, transparency, and compliance.
11. Track record of building meaningful and mutually beneficial community partnerships, leading change, and delivering quality programs and services in times of significant financial constraint, and working with community partners and families with children and youth with complex needs.
12. Familiar with child welfare redesign, provincial ministry operational reviews, and financial/risk assessment processes. Able to advocate effectively to provincial government on behalf of the Society to influence funding and policy decisions.
13. Results-oriented, but sets realistic accountability practices, policies, standards, tools, goals, objectives, and measures at all levels. Establishes a sense of direction and motivates leaders to persist, overcome obstacles, develop solutions, and achieve success and quality service delivery. Understands the value of turning mistakes into growth opportunities.
14. Experienced in communicating transparently with the Board, staff, public, media, community partners, stakeholders, provincial ministries, and other social services/policy agencies in providing information, negotiations, advocating for funding, exchanging expertise, developing policies, and responding to controversial, emergency events.
15. Able to advocate to and collaborate with provincial ministries to directly respond to inquiries, recommendations, Ministerial directives, reviews, and transfer payment risk assessments; to be proactively transparent, address funding gaps, negotiate for funding, find alternative sources of revenue, and address operational costs to ensure financial sustainability, compliance, and accountability with ministry guidelines and with the Society's financial policies and procedures. Able to leverage data, analytics, and technology to support, streamline, and improve service delivery.
16. Engages internal leaders and community partners to gather/use data, evidence, and persuasion to influence change and decisions at a local and provincial level and ensure positive outcomes for children, youth, and families.
17. Knowledge of legislation governing child welfare, including the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, its regulations, Ministry standards, Children's Law Reform Act, Foster Care standards, Youth Criminal Justice Act, and related statutes and OACAS standards.