Community Care Live 08

PLENARY SESSIONS

RAY BRAITHWAITE was the lead trainer in Community Care’s “No Fear” campaign (1999) seeking government resources to substantially reduce levels of aggression towards social care staff. He is the author of Managing Aggression (Taylor and Francis 2001); Turning Down the Heat (Pavilion 2003); and the DVD Teach Yourself Breakaway Skills (2008).

SUE BROOK leads on the Newly Qualified Social Workers pilot (NQSW) programme for the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC). In her previous role she was responsible for the training and development needs of social workers in a local authority and chaired regional arrangements for the provision of social work education.

RUTH CARTWRIGHT qualified as a social worker in 1986 and has worked with all service user groups. She has worked in social care staff development as a trainer, lecturer and manager. Before becoming a BASW staff member she was Manager of a hospital social work team. 

JOHN CHOWCAT has worked as a trade union official representing the interests of employees in the public, private and voluntary sectors for over 30 years. He was first elected General Secretary of Aspect (then NAEIAC) in 1999. He is also a member of the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ recently established Expert Group on the Children’s Workforce.

KATIE CLARKE is the Co-Founder of 1Voice, who together with a team of disabled adult Role Models work with young people to use alternative methods of communication. Clarke also works as a Development Worker for the Calderdale Parent and Carers Council and has developed innovative ways of engaging with families with disabled children.

SAM DIMMOCK is the Programme Director at the Children’s Rights Alliance for England. Her role includes monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in England and enabling children and young people to engage in international human rights reporting processes. Dimmock began her career working in communications at the Imperial War Museum, after which she became the Education Co-ordinator at The Who Cares? Trust, a charity working with children in care. Before joining CRAE in 2007, she held the post of Regional Development Manager at Partnership for Young London and was responsible for providing strategic development advice to youth services and organisations across the capital.

TERRI DOWTY is Director of Action on Rights for Children, a children’s civil rights organisation that focuses on the effects of Information Technology on children’s rights. She is co-author of the 2006 report to the Information Commissioner Children’s Databases: Safety and Privacy and is on the advisory councils of Privacy International and the FIPR.

HARRY FLETCHER is working on proposals for a parliamentary Bill to place a duty on councils to prevent gun and knife crime and on the government to ensure they are properly resourced to do so. He has also been involved in exposing the proliferation of drugs in prison and the lack of harm reduction strategies.

SARAH GENTLES has been Manager of the Education Service for Children in Residential Care at Shaftesbury Young People for five years. Graduating with a degree in English Literature in 1989, Gentles taught both in the UK and abroad after gaining her PGCE. She is passionate about inclusive education, and worked with Travellers and young people with SEN as well as co-ordinating voluntary provision for 16-19 year olds before joining Shaftesbury in 1998.

PENELOPE GIBBS has held her Prison Reform Trust post since September 2007. The five-year programme is supported by The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. Gibbs previously led the Voluntary Action Media Unit in attempting to improve the relationship between charities and the media.

NAKUJA GUYAN – originally from Los Angeles – holds a qualification in business administration and has an NVQ Level 4 RMA in Care. He worked alongside policing authorities in Los Angeles to tackle gang violence and activity and is now working in the same capacity as a Youth Disorder Engagement Worker in London.

LAURA JOHNSTON has worked for Shropshire Council since 1996 and has held a number of posts in children’s social care. In 2005 she moved to the multi-agency and prevention division within the new Children and Young People’s Services Directorate as Head of Service Development. Her current post includes responsibility for the operational management of five multi-agency teams.

RUTH MARCHANT Co-Directs Triangle, an independent organisation working with disabled children and young people across the UK, and works directly with children, consulting about general issues, supporting their communication with the criminal justice system and assessing concerns about maltreatment. She is a registered intermediary with the Ministry of Justice.

BOB REITEMEIER has been the Chief Executive of The Children’s Society for six years. He has led the transformation of the charity’s work to focus on the most marginalised children and young people in the UK. Reitemeier is also a member of the Youth Justice Board and Chair of the Board of Trustees of NCVCCO.

SRABANI SEN joined Contact a Family in March of this year. Her professional background is public affairs and communications. She was previously Chief Executive of the campaigning organisation Alcohol Concern, Head of Communications, and then Acting Director of Nations, Regions and Campaigning at Diabetes. Srabani spent the early part of her career in various communications and public affairs roles in the social housing sector.

ROBERT TAPSFIELD qualified as a social worker over 25 years ago. He worked in two London local authorities as a practitioner and manager specialising in work with children, young people and their families. In 1999 Tapsfield joined Family Rights Group, as Chief Executive. He moved to the Fostering Network as Chief Executive at the beginning of 2004. The Fostering Network is the UK’s leading charity for everyone with a personal or professional involvement in fostering. Tapsfield is also on the board of the Children’s Workforce Development Council.

CLARE TICKELL has been Chief Executive of Action for Children since January 2005. She has been responsible for one of the UK’s largest and most important charities. Action for Children employs over 6,000 people in nearly 500 projects across the UK and in parts of the Caribbean and Africa, supporting more than 170,000 children, young people and their families.

ALISON TRAINOR is Co-Chair of the Independent Children’s Homes Association, a national umbrella organisation and the largest representative group of Children’s Homes Providers in England and Wales (WICHA). Trainor is also Director of Development for Oracle Care, a small, specialised clinical service offering fully integrated therapeutic care and education for children and young people who display inappropriate, risky and/or potentially harmful sexualised behaviours. For the past 16 years Trainor has developed and managed services and projects in addition to working directly with children and young people and is the link for ICHA’s political activity, including contributing papers and consulting on the Children and Young People’s Bill.

KEVIN WILLIAMS was appointed Chief Executive of The Adolescent and Children’s Trust in 2001. During his tenure, TACT has developed from a relatively small charitable fostering agency into a children’s charity providing foster care and adoption services to councils across the UK. More recently it has increased its activity in lobbying and campaigning on issues that affect children in care and, through it’s division Children Law UK, children involved in the criminal justice system.