Welcome to the section of the site dedicated to CC Inform's editorial board.
In here you can find out more about the editorial board, its members, its ethos and its role in helping CC Inform meet the information needs of professionals working with children, young people and their families.
The board was set up in the spring of 2008, and is a very important development underpinning CC Inform's commitment to involving the social care community in the development of the service and reflecting its values of integrity; accuracy and collaboration with stakeholders. It is chaired by Terry Philpot, the former editor of Community Care magazine, and meets three times a year.
The board works with the editorial team to support them in realising their vision of providing a new approach to knowledge-informed practice and ensuring that the service provides a tool that effectively helps practitioners in their practice and contributes to better outcomes.
The members are drawn from a wide range of roles across social care, and you will find the biographies of many of the board listed below (we will soon have all biographies on this page).
Terry Philpot (chair)
Patrick Ayre, senior lecturer in social work, University of Bedfordshire
Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly, strategic adviser and head of the social work academy in the children and young people's service at Croydon Council
Chris Bourlet, chief superintendent, career management unit, Metropolitan Police
Bob Broad, professor of children and families research, The Institute of Social Science Research, London South Bank University
Alex Chard, director of YCTCS Ltd
Jack Cordery, Head of Children’s Social Work Services, Cornwall County Council
Perdeep Gill, safeguarding consultant
Lori Goosen, organisational development consultant, children's social work development, London Borough of Bexley
Anne Hollows, principle lecturer and research co-ordinator for social work, Sheffield Hallam University
Maggie Jones, chief executive, Children England
Sue Keath, service manager, children and families division, London Borough of Sutton
Hilary Lawson, teaching fellow (social work and social care), University of Sussex
Ed Mitchell, general editor of Social Care Law Today and a practising solicitor specialising in social care law
Lucy Titheridge, service manager, duty and assessment, Westminster City Council
Flo Watson, safeguarding team manager, Norfolk County Council
Patrick AyrePatrick teaches social work and child safeguarding at the University of Bedfordshire where he has worked since 1994. He is a qualified social worker and before joining the university, worked in local authority child care and child protection services for some seventeen years, progressing from social worker to manager of child protection services. He has maintained his interest in child welfare, teaching, researching and writing primarily in this field, though he has a strong interest in social work theory and social work education more generally.
When not teaching at the university, he runs a consultancy business specialising in training, conducting Serious Case Reviews and giving expert evidence in negligence and breach of duty of care claims against local authorities. He is a member of the Society of Expert Witnesses and an Expert Member of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers. He is a regular contributor to Community Care magazine.
“For me, coherence and accessibility are two of the key features of what Community Care Inform offers. The content strategy and close liaison with users ensures that social workers have what they need. It is a well-developed and comprehensive product on the shelf.”
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Her previous roles include ILEA Chair of Equal Opportunities, Lead Commissioner on the Commission for Black Staff in Further Education, a trustee of Sir John Carr Foundation, NNEB Board member, chair of South East Panel of National Training awards board, member and interim chair FEFC London, Board member Learning and Skills Council South, ODPM appointed member to the Lambeth CPA Advisory, and founder member Croydon Network for Black Managers.
Her contribution to education was recognised in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honours list, as a Dame of the British Empire. Other significant awards include the Network for Black Professionals 2008 Award for Leadership in Race Equality, and the Federation of Black Women Business Owners 2004 award for lifetime’s work in the spheres of education and child protection.
She has been invited to speak at national events on leadership, education, equalities and safeguarding.”
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Bob BroadDr Bob Broad is professor of children and families research and director of the children and families research unit, De Montfort University, Leicester. He is also visiting professor at London South Bank University in the Social Policy and Urban Research Institute (SPUR).
Previously he was director of the National Children’s Bureau’s research and evaluation department. A qualified teacher and social worker, earlier he worked in several inner London boroughs as a teacher and probation officer before becoming a lecturer at the London School of Economics and then head of policy, research and training at Rainer. He has managed, undertaken and published a large number of research studies about children looked after, leaving care, foster care, kinship care and grandparenting. He is currently undertaking, or has recently undertaken, research studies and/or reviews for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (children in transition to adulthood), Save the Children Fund (international kinship care), the Fostering Network, The Adolescent and Children’s Trust (TACT) and the Grandparents Association (publication ‘Being a grandparent: research evidence, key themes and policy recommendations’).
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Alex ChardAlex Chard MSc - Director YCTCS ltd, is a member of the Editorial Board of Community Care Inform. He has been advising CCI on the development of both the management and youth justice sections of the site.
Alex has worked for the last 20 years providing organisational development services within children’s services, youth justice and the voluntary sector. His knowledge and experience has been gained from working across a broad range of children’s services. He has previously managed youth justice services and fieldwork services for looked after children, children on the child protection register and children in need.
An area of interest is partnership development. He has been commissioned on a number of occasions to assist partners to review the role of children’s trusts and youth offending team boards. He has also assisted with reviewing the respective roles of a children’s trust and a safeguarding board. Another area of expertise is in the provision of management development programmes and providing advice on team and organisational dynamics. His work has also included assisting both children’s services and youth offending teams with development services linked to meeting inspection criteria.
In addition to his writing for Community Care Inform, a range of his work has been published. Working on behalf of the NYA and DCSF he wrote the national guidance for Positive Activities for Young People, Creating a Sense of Belonging. He co-authored a chapter Managerialism at the tipping point? published in Children’s Services at the Crossroads. He is a co-author of Defending Young People, a comprehensive guide to the law on young offenders.
Alex is also a visiting lecturer on the Professional Doctorate in Systemic Practice at the University of Bedfordshire and is currently completing a professional doctorate on systemic change and development in public sector management. His MSc in Systemic Leadership and Organisational Studies was on the impact of inspection on a management team. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and a member of the Society of Authors..
“When social workers are making critical decisions that will affect the lives of children and their families it is vital that they have access to up-to-date information on law, best practice and relevant research. Community Care Inform puts that information at their fingertips, just a mouse click away!”
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Jack CorderyJack is the new Head of Children’s Social Work Services at Cornwall County Council. He started his career in 1979 volunteering in a children’s home in Kent. He has worked as a probation officer, guardian ad litem and social worker. He has been a senior manager responsible for the full range of social work, juvenile offenders, family support, child protection, children in care, care leavers, fostering and adoption services, since 1997. He joined Cornwall Children’s Services in January 2011, in the middle of the last Ofsted Inspection of safeguarding and looked after children services. He is the agency decision maker for fostering and adoption. Jack is leading on the improvement plan for children’s social work in Cornwall.
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Anne Hollows
Dr Anne Hollows is a principal lecturer and research coordinator for social work in the Centre for Health and Social Care Research for Sheffield Hallam University. Prior to her appointment at Sheffield Hallam University, Anne taught at the University of East London. She previously headed the Child Abuse Training Unit at the National Children's Bureau for seven years, where she developed training materials for child protection practice under the Children Act 1989, under contract from the Department of Health. Her social work career, in both England and Scotland, included work as a probation officer and as a hospital social worker, as well as a period in research and planning. She has served on and chaired adoption panels, participated in reviews of practice, and has also worked closely with NCH, the Children's Charity, for many years.
Her research focuses on aspects of social work, and inter-professional practice with children and families. In particular she has developed work with an international team on judgement and decision-making, as it operates in the child protection arena. She also works extensively in policy and practice development and evaluation in the field of family support. Much of her current work centres on inter-professional practice, in each of the above areas. Two years ago she completed a Lottery funded project investigating the experiences of professional support of women in the South Asian community who were victims of domestic violence. For some years she has engaged with the work of faith communities in combating child abuse, sexual harassment and domestic violence.
Current research includes evaluation of Sure Start projects in South and West Yorkshire, including a detailed study of the mainstreaming of a trailblazer project. She is involved in a study mapping the qualifications and training in the children's services workforce for the DfES, and evaluation of a complex inter-professional programme of work with children. She currently supervises PhD students working on studies of recruitment and retention in the children's services workforce and on adoption of sibling groups. She continues to work with colleagues in Australia and the USA in a series of studies investigating the ecology of decision making in child protection and is currently developing an international study of the impact on decision making of supervision, in different professional groups.
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Lori GoosenLori Goossen is a Canadian-born, American-trained social worker, who has practiced social work in Canada, the US, and the UK for the past 16 years. She is currently the Organisational Development Consultant for Children's Social Work Development in the London Borough of Bexley. She is currently undertaking her MA in Advanced Social Work- Practice Education and Training in Human Services at Kingston University. Her areas of interest include: child protection, practice education, compassion fatigue/ secondary trauma in helping professionals, and mentoring/training/development of social workers.
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Sue initially trained as a teacher in 1976, and worked as an assistant to an Informal Education Tutor, a joint funded Education and Probation post, in a large inner city Comprehensive school, with a fully integrated youth centre, play centre and community centre attached.
It was in this role that Sue developed a passion for working with disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people. She moved into the field of Residential Care for children, working in and managing a number of children’s homes providing for the wide ranging needs of children and young people until the mid 1990’s.
Sue qualified as a social worker in 1992, moving into field social work where she has managed a duty team, Looked After Children team, Family Support team and a Child Protection team.
As a practice teacher and manager of social workers Sue is committed to encouraging ongoing professional development for Newly Qualified social workers, more experienced social workers and their managers.
Sue’s service formed an integral part of the focus groups in the Initial stages of setting up Community Care Inform and has maintained a commitment to the use of this ever increasing high standard tool as an added approach to learning and development, assisting practitioners to meet improved outcomes for the children, young people and the families they work with.
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She worked for 12 years in local authority social work before becoming a lecturer and initially taught social work theory and practice, and child and adolescent development, on qualifying social work programmes. She currently delivers post-qualifying courses for social workers and other social care practitioners who want to develop their skills in facilitating the learning of social work students. She also teaches supervision and management courses at post-qualifying level.
Hilary’s work spans both social work and also the nature of learning and being a student. She has worked as a counsellor and advisor of students, and been instrumental in the development of university student support systems. Her doctoral research was a qualitative study of young people making the transition to university and the effects this had on their developing sense of self. She has expertise in adolescents’ experiences of starting university and the nature and effects of learning. She is now exploring the concepts of identity and transition more widely as they relate to people’s personal and professional lives.
She has recently completed a contract with the “Fostering Changes Training Centre” based in the Specialist Adoption and Fostering Team at Maudsley Hospital where she contributed to the development of parenting materials for the use of foster carers (now published by BAAF 2011).
She also trained local authority and independent social workers and foster carers in the use of these parenting strategies throughout the UK.She has researched and published on effective supervision of staff, developing reflective practice and all aspects of practice education. Her company, Hilary Lawson Partnerships, works with local authorities in a consultancy and training role to develop work-based learning throughout the organisation, including training social work and social care staff to offer high quality student placements, mentoring and supervision.
Publications include “Practice Teaching-Changing Social Work” (2001) and “Learning, Identity and Learning about Identity: the role of connectedness” (2008).
Contact and more information:
Dr Hilary LawsonHilary.lawson4@gmail.com
Hlpartnerships.net
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Ed MitchellEd is a solicitor specialising in social care law. He is the General Editor of Social Care Law Today (Arden Davies Publishing) and a Consultant Editor to the Mental Health Law Review and the Journal of Social Housing Law. Ed also writes a regular column for New Law Journal on community care and disability law and is a contributor on social care legal matters to various other publications including the Child and Family Law Quarterly and the Journal of Social Welfare Law.
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Terry PhilpotTerry Philpot is a journalist and writer and a contributor to a wide range of publications and was formerly editor of Community Care. He writes a column for YoungMinds Magazine and is an occasional contributor to The Tablet and The Guardian. He has written and edited more than a dozen books, the most recent of which are (with Anthony Douglas) Adoption: Changing Families, Changing Times (Routledge, 2002); (with Julia Feast) Searching Questions. Identity, Origins and Adoption (BAAF, 2003); (with Clive Sellick and June Thoburn) What Works in Foster Care and Adoption? (Barnardo’s, 2004); and he has co-authored five volumes on work with traumatised children. He edited Residential Care: A Positive Future published in 2008. In 2001 BAAF published his report into private fostering, A Very Private Practice. He has also published a report on kinship care and two reports on residential care for older people run by the Catholic Church, the latest of which is The Length of Days: How Can the Church Meet the Challenges of an Ageing Society?, was published in 2007. He is a trustee of the Cardinal Hume Centre, Circles UK and the Michael Sieff Foundation, having previously been a member of the boards of Social Care Institute of Excellence, Rainer and the Centre for Policy on Ageing. He is also a member of the Residential Forum. He has won several awards for journalism. His latest book is Understanding Sexual Abuse: Female Partners of Sex Offenders Tell Their Stories (Routledge).
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Lucy TitheridgeI qualified as a social worker in 1996 and worked in a statutory children and families team for the London Borough of Hounslow. I later moved to the NSPCC where, alongside a colleague, I developed a project for young women under 18 who were at risk of sexual exploitation in London’s West End. In November 2003, I moved to a small private organisation as practice manager, working with young people who were involved with children’s social services and needed additional support.
In 2004 I moved to the London Borough of Sutton as a locum social worker in the referral and assessment service. In May 2004 I became assistant team manager for the referral and assessment service and in September 2007 I began as acting team manager for the referral and assessment service; this is my current position before acquiring the position permanently in 2008. In March 2010 I moved to Westminster City Council where I am Service Manager for the Duty and Assessment Team which includes St Mary's hospital.
“I would like to see all social workers have access to Community Care inform as it is a valuable resource that enables social workers to acquire knowledge and practice information at a touch of a button. This will raise the confidence of the social workers and enable them to practice more effectively. Social workers acquire knowledge at university about child abuse, social work theories, psychology theories, counselling and understanding how humans and society works etc.
When they come into practice they are often faced with issues that they feel ill prepared to deal with, i.e. their first case of a parent who is fabricating or inducing the illness in their child. University is not able to prepare you for this and it might not be something that you came across on placement. It is essential for a social worker to be able to read something that helps them feel on top of the issues they are dealing with and provides them with insight into how to deal with the case. It gives them confidence when working with the family and helps them reflect on their practice.
In an era where people have got used to being able to look up information at a touch of a button social worker needs to keep up to date and provide this same tool for the workforce, hence Community Care Inform; a website that evolves with the profession and provides essential information to social workers to help them safeguard children.”
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Flo Watson
Dr FA Watson has degrees in Sociology, Criminology, Social Work and Social Policy. Her doctoral research examined decision-making about boundaries of information-sharing and risk assessment in social work. She is currently a safeguarding team manager at Norfolk County Council.
Previously she was employed as Cafcass’ research officer and has worked as a probation officer in Canada, Children and Families Social Worker in Leeds, and child protection co-ordinator in Bracknell. From 1999 to 2004 she was lecturer in Social Work for Norwich City College where she completed research about effective teaching practice for social work ethics and values.
“This website contains extremely useful information relevant to practice. I like the way it combines law, policy, current research and practice wisdom in an accessible way. The site managers have been responsive to practice needs, so the knowledge base has developed to keep pace with new initiatives in children and families social work. Materials included on the site are easy to read and understand; the précis are informative without being overwhelming, and there are recommendations for further reading to help people access more information when they need to read further about a subject. The service provided by Community Care Inform does not come cheap, and that always has to be a consideration. However it is of high quality and the adage ‘you get what you pay for’ comes to mind when considering this provider.”