The dramatic turnaround in the quality of social care Norfolk County Council gives vulnerable children has seen the authority picked to help drive improvement at other councils.
In just over a decade, the County Hall department has gone from being rated as inadequate by inspectors from Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) to outstanding.
And that has seen the children's services team selected by the government to be one of eight councils that will support other authorities in making improvements to their social care for children and young people.
The Department for Education (DfE) has named the department as a Children's Social Care Improvement Team, as part of the second tranche of its national programme.
Wendy Atkinson, the Reform-led council's cabinet member for children, families and SEND (special educational needs and disabilities), said: "We have dedicated and talented staff working throughout our children’s services department and it is great to see that being recognised by national government through this selection.
“Other councils, and, in turn, children and families nationally, will be able to benefit from our expertise in supporting families and keeping children safe.
"This is a real credit to the team, who have made such tremendous progress over the last few years.”
Norfolk will now be partnered with another local authority that is currently underperforming, providing active and sustainable peer support for up to two years.
The programme is fully funded by the DfE, with Norfolk paid for the time it contributes to supporting improvement work elsewhere.
Inspectors from Ofsted visited the council in February to scrutinise areas such as the welfare of children in care, fostering, adoption and child protection.
In all five areas inspected - the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families, the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection, the experiences and progress of children in care, the experiences and progress of care leavers and overall effectiveness - an outstanding rating was given.
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