Profiles
18 March
Teams
- CAYPIC 3 Team
- Effective Practice Academy
- Mary Stevens Hospice - Social Work Team
- Scarborough CAMHS team
20 March
Social workers
21 March
Team leaders
22 March
Other roles
CAYPIC 3 Team
CAYPIC 3 Team is an amazing team at Wolverhampton city council and was nominated by Leanne Marie Broxton
I would like to nominate my team CAYPIC 3 within Wolverhampton as an amazing team, we have had a challenging year, but the team always puts the needs of our children and young people at the centre of what they do.
They go above and beyond daily to ensure that the children and young people we support feel valued. As their team manager I would also like to praise them for being them, for building positive relationships with each other, for always being willing to help and support each other and for sharing the knowledge and experience they have.
As a team we pride ourselves on being the best and this year has been no exception. We continue to build our children and young people up, help them to aspire big, think of the future and see the glass as half full, not half empty.
Effective Practice Academy
Effective Practice Academy is an amazing team at Effective Practice Academy, Children and Young Peoples Support Services - East Riding of Yorkshire Council and was nominated by Sasha Midgley
The Effective Practice Academy is a team of experienced advanced social workers and experienced practitioners from education and early help backgrounds. Over the past year they have worked extremely hard on numerous projects that already have or will positively impact on social workers within the workforce and children and families in East Riding.
Each member of the team has gone above and beyond to bring these projects to life. This has included working independently on tasks to move these projects forward but also working collaboratively as a team. Some of these projects include creating a 3 year development programme for our apprentice social workers, recruiting to a new cohort of apprentice social workers, as well as seeing our current apprentice social workers thrive, developing a student support programme for all student social workers on placement within East Riding Children's Services, promoting East Riding as a placement provider and employer for social work students within our local universities, recruiting to a new cohort of NQSW social workers and developing a really strong 12 month ASYE package for all NQSW's, supporting our 22-23 cohort of NQSW's to thrive and successfully pass their ASYE, provide practice consultations and bespoke work with practitioners across the practice system to develop knowledge and skills with our practitioners, bringing a project around support for SEND parents to life and researching high and low to bring together an amazing package of work around reducing parental conflict.
This is just a highlight reel of the work the team has done, and I truly believe the children and families will reap the rewards of this work both now and in the future and all our social work practitioners will be confident, competent and knowledgeable. This has all been achieved with the clear guidance, support and encouragement of the Academy Manager, Jane. A brilliant team doing brilliant things that is founded on excellent working relationships and a big sense of humour!
Mary Stevens Hospice - Social Work Team
Mary Stevens Hospice - Social Work Team is an amazing team at Mary Stevens Hospice and was nominated by Esther Olivier
The aim of the Mary Stevens Hospice Social Work team is to support any person with lived experience and their families to know that they matter because they are them and that they matter to the end of their lives. This team will do all that they can to not only help them to die peacefully, but also to live until they die.
A lot of our families are unable to go to the shops due to this stage of their lives. We therefore have brought the shops to them. Through co-production with the families in the Day Unit we arranged a Festive Fashion show for the Carers Rights Day 2023. Staff as well as people with lived experience were modelling different section of clothes for all to enjoy. The family carers as well as the people with lived experience were celebrated.
This has been such a success that we are planning to have a monthly rail of different clothes and a trolley of books on the family’s request!
Scarborough CAMHS team
Scarborough CAMHS team is an amazing team at CAMHS Scarborough and was nominated by Clare Patrick
As a social work student on placement within the Scarborough CAMHS team, surrounded by incredibly knowledgeable, skilled and ethically driven professionals. I can say with certainty that I feel hugely positive about my experiences so far, having felt very much welcomed and valued throughout my time so far here. Everyone I have met has displayed kindness and created the space and time to speak with me. I have also had my eager requests for shadowing experiences met with numerous and diverse opportunities, for which I am very grateful.
This experience has illuminated how important the people and environments around you at work are. I think that as social workers we are exposed to so many external influences, so it is incredibly beneficial to have people around you who are authentically committed to supporting you.
Ultimately, I feel very lucky to be a student on placement here, within a team that is committed to helping students grow and develop. The experience I have received here is one that I will consciously take with me, being sure to pass on the kindness that I have received to others who might be starting out in their own social work journeys in the future.
Deborah Barret
Deborah is a social worker at NHS and was nominated by Marcelle dos Santos
Debbie is the only social worker in her field (acquired blood disorders). She has developed a service that supports and advocates in only the way social workers can for individuals and their families within the NHS.
She has overcome barriers relating to practice (in a field that has no previous experience of social work) and she is tireless in her role that covers the whole of South Wales (in fact any area that her patients live, including England).
Debbie has participated and advocated in the current blood disorder enquiry. She is a more than a magician with providing resources and will often utilise her own funds, contacts etc. Debbie supports older people, young people, refugees and never says no in considering their needs however they present. She is very much a “solution's not problems” practitioner and I am in awe of her ability to maintain her sense of purpose and resilience.
Emma Kirkland
Emma is a senior social worker at City of Wolverhampton Council and was nominated by Samantha Jane Grainger
Emma Kirkland is a senior social worker within the Reach Leaving Care Team at Wolverhampton. She works tirelessly to support care experienced young people. She always works in a trauma informed way and has high aspirations for them. She is resilient and does not give up on them.
Emma has a supervision group of personal advisors. She advocates for them and goes out of her way to develop practice, using her wealth of personal experience. One of her supervision group has recently embarked on a social work apprentice supported and encouraged by Emma. Emma models good practice to the whole team and leads by example. She is a kind, sensitive and caring colleague who uses her perceptive skills to identify when other members of the team need support.
In addition, Emma continues to make a huge contribution to the development of the care leaving service. She facilitates a young parent’s group for care experienced young people on a weekly basis. This provides a social focal point for young parents who are feeling lonely and isolated. She organises fun activities for parents with their babies as well as sessions for them to learn practical skills. Emma has been tenacious in developing the group and has been successful in encouraging attendance from those young people who are ‘harder to reach’. The group has led to positive friendships developing within the group and has enriched the lives of those that attend.
Emma takes a lead on the promotion of emotional wellbeing for our young people. Alongside another worker she has developed links in the local community and has arranged a wellbeing retreat. This gave a group the opportunity to experience a range of spiritual and healing practices such as sound healing, mediation, breathing exercises and goal setting. From this our wellbeing group has been formed, offering care experienced young people ongoing support.
Other areas of development Emma leads on is building a partnership with adult services for our young people with additional needs. She also guides and supports the team around safeguarding and assessment of risk.
Emma is an inspirational worker. She makes everyone feel good and valued as individuals. Social work needs more Emmas!
Fareed Malik
Fareed is a social worker at Central Bedfordshire Council and was nominated by Ben Feasmen
Fareed, a standout social worker, making tangible differences in the lives of children and families through his practice – he deserves to be recognised for his contribution to Social Work. His commitment to child welfare is evident in his proactive advocacy for a family whose case initially faced police inaction. Fareed's persistence resulted in a conviction, with the family thanking them for sticking up for them when they felt powerless.
Colleagues praise Fareed for his child-centric focus, describing him as a social worker who consistently prioritises the needs of children. Fareed has been upskilling his Early Help Colleagues who rave about how they feel treated as an equal and learn tremendous amounts of skill and confidence through his clear communication and effective sharing of practical insights. The string of positive feedback from Families tell us they not only appreciate but also trust Fareed, emphasising his knack for building meaningful connections.
Fareed's professional reputation speaks volumes, with colleagues citing him as an "excellent, thorough social worker." His work is characterised by a pragmatic, creative, and conscientious approach. This commitment extends to collaborative working, where Fareed's emphasis on partnership minimises confusion, meaning families get the right support at the right time.
Beyond professional interactions, Fareed's ability to establish rapport is particularly impactful. Families describe his approach as calming and laid-back, creating an environment where trust is established swiftly. This trust becomes the foundation for Fareed's support, enabling families to navigate challenges and make practical, positive changes.
Fareed's knowledge-sharing efforts have a practical impact on the organisation. Colleagues note his passion for supporting development and creating opportunities within the team. Fareed's willingness to share information not only bolsters the confidence of his colleagues in Children’s services but also empowers families to make informed, real-world decisions.
One peer shared “Fareed has such a calming, laid back approach with families, which help them to build trust and feel comfortable around him very quickly. I feel that this is such a strong positive for Fareed, as he is then able to put lots of support in place for families to be able to make positive and sustainable changes swiftly. “A management colleague said "Fareed was an outstanding member of staff – he was always available, with clear analysis of need and risk for families, along with ensuring handover discussion had taken place as part of transfers."
In every aspect of his practice, Fareed emerges as a source of inspiration, influencing positive outcomes not only for the children and families directly involved but also for his colleagues. He is truly deserving of recognition!
Kate Elliott
Kate is a social worker at Oxfordshire County Council and was nominated by Imogen Parker
Kate is an outstanding Social Worker who rarely recognises her own brilliance. She is hugely committed to her work and works tirelessly to meet both the needs of the families she works with whilst pushing the Local Authority and helping her colleagues to provide the best support possible.
Her passion for ensuring the needs of children in care are met has resulted in the entire LA improving their approach to Sibling Together and Apart assessments. However, whilst Kate is incredibly knowledgeable and experienced, she treats all colleagues as equals and never overlooks the views of others. She is truly an inspiration to work alongside.
*Kate has also asked us to pass on her deep gratitude to Imogen for her nomination!
Patience Tagarira
Patience is a social worker at Hertfordshire County Council and was nominated by Philip Francis
I am nominating Patience because of her person centred, strength-based, creative nature and for going the extra mile when working with individuals.
In one case involving a homeless man, Patience demonstrated empathy and really went out of her way to provide practical support to him to secure temporary accommodation and furnish his home. This included purchasing items which aid independence i.e., night light, clothes, and referring him to a wide range of voluntary agencies.
Her application and understanding of the Care Act 2014 and the themes of community first preventative measures, are the reasons why I have nominated Patience. Because of her approach and the inherent value she sees in people, Patience was able to see the 'person', truly capture what was important to the individual and work towards meaningful outcomes
Adrian Nugent
Adrian is a team manager at Education Authority Northern Ireland and was nominated by Colin Reid
Adrian is Head of Service for the Education Welfare Service in EA with responsibility for 160 mostly social work staff and a NI wide regional service. He has been in this role since 2016 and the formation of the Education Authority in NI and worked in education for 25 years.
Adrian qualified as a teacher before retraining as a social worker and sees himself firmly as the latter though his unique experience gives him great expertise and insight.
Adrian has a great sense of humour, patience and passion for people. His values of empathy, compassion and promotion of rights shine though in what he does. Adrian tries his very best for families and staff and has great negotiation skills with the ability to work within and between systems and services to get things done. If you need something for a child or family Adrian will know someone who knows someone, who know someone who can help.
Adrian is very popular with staff, other services and families. I have worked closely with Adrian for 5 years as his manager and he has done a lot to help transform the EWS service and to promote social work in education.
Adrian is also a very talented sportsman and ex Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) senior player, coach and golfer and in his spare time he is Chair of governors in a large secondary school where he has brought many of his skills to bear for the betterment of the pupils.
I have learnt a lot from working with Adrian and he embodies what is best about social work. An empathic leader who makes a difference to people's lives.
Giuseppina Milano
Giuseppina is a team manager at South West Kent Community Mental Health Team and was nominated by Ashley Worsell
Giuseppina is qualified in social care and is an AMHP assessor. Within KMPT she is employed as an Operational Team Leader. She is dedicated to patient care and is always available to staff for advice, guidance and support both practically and emotionally. The team at South West Kent is certainly a better place with her in it.
Helen Barker
Helen is a team manager at Oxfordshire County Council and was nominated by Natalie Barcena
I am nominating Helen Barker who is the Team Manager for the Unaccompanied Children & Young People’s Team in Oxfordshire.
Helen is an exceptional Social Worker and Team Manager who deserves national recognition for her services to supporting young people and social workers alike. Helen has been the ‘rock’ of our team over the last 18 months through a time of instability and uncertainty. Helen has provided consistently high-quality support to the team as well as ‘rolling-up her sleeves’ to help practically with supporting young people. I know that this sentiment is shared by our team of 20, several of whom have put into words as to why Helen Barker is an ‘Amazing Social Worker’:
“Would like to say that Helen Barker shows complete dedication to her team and her hard work is always apparent. Helen has worked hard to balance the needs of the young people we support alongside the needs of the team whilst recognising the importance of ensuring work practice standards are kept high.
A big thank you to Helen.”
“I absolutely agree with you Natalie she is the right candidate for this nomination. Helen is a true demonstration of leading by example. Incredibly hard working, very supportive and collaborative, very gentle, understanding, compassionate, patient, and sensitive to people feelings. She is very willing to share her experience and knowledge. If you ask Helen any question, she always have the patience and very satisfactory answers- impressive!”
“Helen has been an incredible manager to our team for as long as I have been here (3 years). But particularly over the last 14 months. In November 2022, we faced an unprecedented challenge as a team, welcoming over 25 children into our care, unexpectedly, over the course of a week. Helen saw us through this, always prioritising the needs and rights of the child, managing with compassion, empathy and a calm approach. Helen is fantastically approachable. Willing to block out time whenever asked to do case reflection or sign finance forms.
Despite having not supervised me for the last year, she still remembers much of the details of the young people I support and is always happy to chat to them when they are in the office. Recently, I had to speak to her because I was struggling a bit with workload, and I knew that she would take my feelings seriously. Immediately, she asked for support from one of our seniors to help me with some tasks, and this helped so much. It made me feel valued and cared for. She is a calming presence in the team, a real leader and is one of the main reasons I would choose to stay working for this local authority.”
Alicia Cumming
Alicia is an ASYE assessor at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust and was nominated by Foha Leaning
I am thrilled to recommend Alicia for her social work ASYE supervision. Throughout my ASYE, she provided an unparalleled level of support and guidance that greatly contributed to my professional growth.
Alicia possesses a rare combination of empathy and expertise, creating a supportive atmosphere where I felt comfortable discussing any challenges. Her mentorship style encouraged open dialogue and allowed me to voice concerns without hesitation.
Alicia offered invaluable insights and practical advice that helped me navigate complex cases with confidence. Her commitment to my development was evident through consistent encouragement and constructive feedback, empowering me to excel during my ASYE. I wholeheartedly endorse Alicia, her exceptional qualities make her an indispensable mentor for aspiring social workers seeking supportive and effective guidance.
Claire Winters
Claire is an independent reviewing officer at Hull City Council and was nominated by Claire Rutherford
Claire Winters, is an Independent Reviewing Officer for Hull City Council. She has a wealth of knowledge and has been committed to children and young people of Hull for over 20 years.
Claire is someone who started as a Social Worker and given her passion, drive and commitment to the development of other social workers, she quickly became a leader. Claire has worked across safeguarding services, including being a team manager, consultant, LADO and trainer. However, her dedication and commitment to children in care has always seen her gravitate back to her role as an IRO, knowing that she has a great impact in this role and she is without a doubt a very strong advocate for children and their families.
Her practice encompasses the codes of ethics and she acts with professionalism. Her practice is always very dignified, she embraces the professional standards and ensures that her intervention and skills promote rights, justice and economic wellbeing.
Given her experience she also practices as a Practice Educator and delivers training on responding to domestic abuse. This training has been received well from practitioners across the partnership and the feedback about her knowledge and understanding has been evaluated as a high standard. Her advice and support is helping to keep children safe and, as social workers and professionals across the partnership, we feel Claire is a fine example of a social worker who always goes above and beyond for the children of Hull and the wider community.
Edward Carter
Edward is a social work academic at Middlesex University and was nominated by Cherie Carlton
Edd has had a long career as a social worker and as a social work academic. His commitment to the profession and investment in ensuring the continued growth and education of high calibre of social workers within the profession is both deeply admirable and inspiring. Edd continues to embody the ethics and values of the profession in everything he does and in particular in developing future social workers.
Hollie Troughton
Hollie is a principal children & families social worker at East Riding of Yorkshire Council and was nominated by Sarah Sherwood
Hollie our Principal Social Worker has been at the fore of our development, always advocating to improve our practice whilst holding our families close to her heart. She champions the importance of making the right decisions, at the right time and most importantly that these are done collaboratively and transparently with our children, young people and their families.
Hollie is passionate about promoting social work that we are proud of and will highlight and share good practice and work that she sees. Hollie is not afraid to challenge unjust practice whether this is a peer, senior or partner, but she will always do this in a professional, respectful, and dignified way. In addition to this, she is an open book and always willing to understand another’s perspective or approach to widen her own lens, then will take the time to reflect upon this, pro social modelling to colleagues and our practice system a crucial skill of reflection.
Hollie seeks to understand the experiences of staff at all levels across our practice system through her relational approach with our workforce, for example, taking the time to understand why people work in our practice system, what their motivating factors are and how we can build on these. Her connectivity with colleagues is beautiful to see, she genuinely cares and will always be curious if she can see someone struggling, Hollie will be the first person to park what she is doing to support someone in need.
Hollie is an amazing social worker, colleague, and dear friend, she leaves a positive mark on everyone she comes into contact with. Her knowledge, experience and caring approach is shared with all, and she continues to develop, learn and sit outside her comfort zone to strive to be the best Principal Social Worker she can be, Hollie is a true inspiration.
Jade Hibberd
Jade is a social worker, AMHP and CSW at East London Foundation Trust and was nominated by Nontando Mpofu
As a think-ahead student, it is so important to have a CSW / practice educator who is a mentor, coach, professional and teacher all rolled into one. Jade does this seamlessly. She has guided me and allowed me time and a safe space to grow and develop my practice in a non-judgmental and supportive way. She is also so knowledgeable with incredible medical insights. She is very reflective and able to break down the most complex of cases, concepts and theories by putting it into simple terms/language. For me, as someone who has struggled, she has always encouraged and supported me, especially at times when I have considered walking away.
Katrina Hackett-Cann
Katrina is a placement officer at Rhondda Cynon Taf Children's Services and was nominated by Rhiannon Shepherd
Our placement officer, Kat, is an unquestionable asset to Children’s Services. Kat works in our very busy placements team seeking placements for foster and residential placements for our children who are looked after. Kat works incredibly hard to achieve the right placement for children and her extensive knowledge, working with professionals and agencies supports the social workers and practitioners across the local authority.
It is a very challenging time when seeking placements for children and Kat is thoughtful when working with in house carers and residential homes as well as independent providers to ensure that our children and young people are placed with carers who can meet their needs as well as provide stability and safety. Kat has formed positive relationships with independent providers and is able to have frank and open discussions about meeting the needs of our children. Kat has very close working relationships with our colleagues in the fostering support team, this has allowed for children to be matched to the right placement even at times of emergency.
Kat recognises that our children and young people are suffering significant trauma and that a stable placement is key to supporting them. Kat uses her knowledge of our in-house carers as well as the positive relationships with independent providers to identify emergency placements when needed, but also continues to speak to carers and providers who may be able offer longer term options to minimise the impact on the children and to prevent further moves.
Kat always keeps the child at the centre of her work and this is not often seen by all but is key to ensuring good outcomes for our children. When I asked our team about this nomination one member said:
"I think her dedication to the role is immense and despite all the challenges she will go over and above to ensure we explore all options in finding a placement."
"Kat has a strong value base that all children and young people deserve the best possible care and she really deserves recognition for the work she does in ensuring that children and young people are provided care that supports all their needs."
Lara Davidson
Lara is a social work leader at Hull City Council and was nominated by Claire Rutherford
Since leaving school, Lara knew she was destined to be a social worker. Lara has worked for Hull City Council for more than 20 years. She would say she is part of the furniture; I would say she is a fine example of someone who is dedicated to the children and families of Hull, making it her mission to contribute to their welfare and improving their outcomes.
Lara has been in a leadership role for 15 years. She has been responsible for safeguarding children, young people and their families in a variety of roles, such as Group Manager for EHASH and then for Safeguarding Locality Services. In this time, I have observed Lara always going the extra mile to make sure children were safe and teams were supported. Her team would say no task was ever too much. The staff she led would say she valued everyone equally from the cleaner to the team managers, everyone felt supported. As a leader she has always rolled her sleeves up and is always keen to keep in touch with frontline practice.
Lara’s current role is Hull Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Manager. In the last 2 years she has had a profound impact in terms of learning she is providing and leading scrutiny of on-going assurance activity. ‘The Line of Sight’ meetings are held to provide a platform to reflect on those with experience of the service, what has worked well, and what needs to be different. The approach taken has maximised the opportunity for social workers, Police, health workers and other professionals, to learn from the experiences of children and their families, so that we can improve services.
Lara has led on and excelled in the development of a neglect tool kit. The tool was co-produced with all partners and is now being shared and adopted across the partnership and Lara will continue to evaluate how this is impacting on children and their families.
Lara absolutely embraces joint audit work and continuous learning between partners. Lara has been a driving force in ensuring that we cascaded learning in terms of Achieving Best Evidence and chairs these meetings. More recently Lara has been pivotal in the planning of a number of conferences to develop the learning and improve practice in terms of Neglect, Professional Curiosity and Contextual Safeguarding and these have been well received and impactful in terms of promoting CPD across a multitude of professionals.
I am nominating Lara because so many people can see and feel the difference she has made while in this leadership role. Lara provides strategic and operational management of HSCP to ensure an effective partnership which meets all statutory requirements and improves multi-agency safeguarding practice, to improve outcomes for children.
Leadership is about having the capacity to translate vision into a reality and Lara has done that. In the 2 years in HSCP post she has dedicated her time to enhancing relationships across the partnership.
Lucy Wilkin
Lucy is an advanced social work practitioner (ASWP) at Worcestershire county council (Adult Mental Health Team South) and was nominated by Katie ward
I would like to nominate Lucy who is the forefront of the adult mental health team in Worcester. She line manages and leads her team to support those often most disadvantaged in society. She has her own caseload, in which she supports but she also acts as a wider representative of the team. We work alongside Lucy in the health team, and it is clear the passion and commitment she has for those we help and professionals alongside her.
She ensures that everyone feels listened and valued, and that the individual stays at the heart of the conversation. I think Lucy is an amazing social worker, and she needs to be reminded as the job can be extremely tough and demanding. But the world needs more social workers like Lucy leading and supporting those who need their voice heard.
Niall O'Connor
Niall is a deputy principal social worker at Wolverhampton Children services and was nominated by Amelia Davies
Niall comes into work and always has a smile on his face. I am a newly qualified social worker and Niall has supported me throughout. It is really refreshing having someone who loves their job and thrives for children to have better lives and to improve social work. He is a ball of knowledge and will always support anyone that he can. I am so lucky to work with someone so amazing!!!
Paula Plaskow
Paula is an end of life and palliative care lead at Jewish Care and was nominated by Bola Owoade
I am nominating Paula because she is an excellent and compassionate social worker. At Jewish Care Paula is our End of Life and Palliative Care Lead. She is constantly working to find ways to ensure that our residents are treated with dignity towards the end of their lives.
Paula finds time to train staff around end-of-life issues. She is also interested in the wellbeing of staff who constantly experience the death of residents they have been caring for. She takes the time to run reflection sessions to help staff reflect on how they are feeling about their experiences.
Recently, Paula helped a team who had just experienced a resident's death to take time out to think about what they had just experienced instead of just jumping straight back into work. The team she did it with did not know they could do that, and they felt relieved that they were given that space to reflect.
Paula believes that experience should be the norm and decided that we should create a video where some of the people who went through the 'time-out' experience talk about its benefits. Part of that video has already been created and we are working on extracting some key learning points from it.
Paula also set up a programme of End-of-Life champions to get people from our different care homes to identify support they need with end of life so we can develop appropriate training and provide other necessary support. Paula has already met with the champions twice and she is working to put in place necessary support for staff.
What makes Paula unique is her passion. She does her role with a genuine passion that shows that she sees what she does as more than a job and almost a calling to support residents during their end-of-life season with utmost dignity and to give care workers the right tools to do that. Paula is an excellent and caring social worker, and this is why I am nominating her.
Robert Lewis
Robert is a service manager at Devon County Council and was nominated by Christina Cheney
Robert is a dedicated and inspirational leader in the field of mental health social work and AMHP practice. He has contributed above and beyond his role as Service Manager to a number of teams in Devon and given vast amounts of time, effort and expertise to a whole host of national developments such as;
- Writing the National AMHP Service Standards
- Developing an e-Learning module on the role of the AMHP
- Co-Chairing the National AMHP Leads network, expanding its reach, representation and inclusivity
- Contributing significantly to national policy and legislation - giving evidence to the MHA review, drafting and commenting on MH Bill, drafting CAMHS Tier 4 guidance for NHSE, drafting RCRP Guidance for DHSC, among many others
- Offering supervision, mentoring, guidance and advice to colleagues internally and nationwide
- Being a strong Ally for marginalized voices, leading anti-racist practice in his own and other organizations and giving over his access or positions to others in order to share or hand over power
These and other elements of Probert's work have:
- Raised the profile of the profession
- Significantly improved the quality and consistency of practice nationwide.
- Taken the voice of practice to government and policymakers
- Championed the voice of individuals experiencing mental distress
- Championed the voice of people from marginalised communities and encouraged and supported colleagues working this way as a strong ally
Robert does much of this work on top of a full-time day job as a busy service manager. He receives little recognition or acknowledgement for it and doesn't seek it either, doing so from a place of values and duty.
Sarah Lowe
Sarah is the creator of ParentAssess and was nominated by Sarah Lord
Sarah Lowe is a remarkable woman who has spent her entire adult life seeking justice and fairness for others who are vulnerable and don't always have a voice, even when very important decisions are being made about them and their children.
Sarah is a social worker and leader who still manages to" keep it real' and has built an assessment framework based on the DOH Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (2000). Sarah, a social worker with over 30 years practical experience of assessments came across parents with additional needs who simply did not understand the court process and missed out on the opportunity to have a fair assessment. Sarah wanted to assess what parents were good at rather than what they could not do, building relationships that are strength based and levelling things up in Care Proceedings.
So far over a 1,000 social workers and practitioners have completed the training that is required to use the assessment framework which is easy to navigate and uses a traffic light system to build the assessment. Sarah's leadership of the Parent Assess training course and the development of the Software is impressive as is the feedback from Parents, Judges, Legal Advisors and children's Guardians.
The rather lovely thing about Sarah as a leader is that she asked us as social workers for our view and feedback and the framework has grown and been strengthened and improved because of her openness to share her expertise and include us in this change. Sarah runs supervision at no cost to her, she has encouraged us to build a network of ISW and now we have a Kite Mark quality assuring the assessments.
Sarah continues to listen to the user of the network she has created a space where it has room to grow and change. She is modest about her lifetime experience in social work and her passion for helping people with learning difficulties and other challenges is a golden thread running through her. She is kind and is always happy to share any knowledge she has about her lifelong work. The best social work leader I have ever worked with.
Sue Williams
Sue is a programme director at Hertfordshire County Council Children's Services and was nominated by Angela Clarke
Sue has had a long and distinguished career as a Social Worker and her impact on the profession is incalculable. Social work values run through her like a stick of rock, and she has used her value base to positively influence others at an individual, team, organisation, regional, and national level. Her fundamental belief in the value and worth of all people and their capacity to change, has driven her to be a great Social Worker, manager, and leader of high-quality ethical practice.
She is incredibly proud of her roots in a poor community in Sunderland. Her fascination with people and wanting to understand them, their needs, and what motivates them has been sustained throughout her life. She is a champion of building relationships with people.
Sue does not hide her views about the reasons why some people in society need help to overcome the challenges they face. She's been an activist all her life; upholding human rights, challenging discrimination, and campaigning for social justice in the UK and around the world.
Her values have led her to lead a transformation in how children and families are supported by children's services in England. She is the author of the Family Safeguarding approach. It has gone on to be implemented in 22 other areas in England. She established a centre of excellence and secured DfE grant funding for innovation and improvement for others. It has been independently evaluated to demonstrate that it works – allowing thousands of children to remain safely in the care of their family.
She was driven in this endeavour by the ethical need to address the growing power imbalance in children and families social work, where families had been victims of abuses of our power. The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, Stable Homes Built on Love, and the national policy and guidance that followed from it, have all drawn heavily on Sue’s work to support a re-balancing and return to the principles of the Children Act 1989. She is without doubt a change agent. She has inspired thousands of people to improve lives and elevate the reputation of our profession.