Amanda Forshaw, Chief Executive, Caritas Care Expand Amanda has worked for Caritas Care, a medium sized charity providing a range of care and community services for children and adults in the North West, since 2003, initially as Director of Services, before taking up her current position as CEO in 2014. Amanda has had a long and varied career as a qualified social worker in both practice and management within the public and voluntary sectors, primarily working with children and families, and specialising in the field of Adoption and Fostering. Amanda cares passionately about creating opportunities and innovative responses to meet the needs of children families and adults, and is also a Trustee of CVAA (Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies) and NAS (National Autistic Society). She became a trustee of Children England in 2015.
Anil Ranchod, Stroke Association Not having a degree hasn’t stopped me Expand The positivity and commitment in the charity sector is infectious I don’t have a degree simply because we couldn’t afford it. So I came into the charity sector as a temp, 23 years ago and was amazed by the people I met. Here was a talented, friendly, passionate group of people whose motivation was to make a difference. Their positivity and commitment was infectious and on securing a permanent position, I was hooked. I still try to imbue those qualities in the teams I work with. The first team I worked with taught me loads about being a professional My first charity job was as Marketing Assistant at the NSPCC. I was working as a temp supporting one of the officers and the role came up and I went for it. I’ll never forget, there were over 200 applicants, so I felt very lucky and honoured to even get an interview. My main role was to support the Marketing Manager and the team, who were brilliantly supportive and taught me loads on integrity and being a professional. My background was in managing a small mail order business and banking. I believe it was my can-do attitude and pragmatic approach to finding solutions coupled with a hunger to learn. I learned on the job I was really pleased that in five years at NSPCC, I learned on the job and reached Senior Marketing Communications Officer by the time I left. In 2003, I decided to go into PR and started my career again. Again, surrounded by some brilliant and supportive people, I managed to achieve lots of successes. One of my biggest successes is that I created and successfully delivered the UK’s stroke awareness month, now known as Make May Purple for stroke. We’ve won several awards and it has been featured in PR Week. Not having a degree hasn’t stopped me (but it’s easier teaching someone who wants to learn) If you’re thinking of working in the charity sector: do it because you care. All too often I see people coming into the sector because they think it’s less demanding than the private sector, but that is quite the opposite. I’m proud to say that I have always worked for causes I feel strongly about and that’s my motivation. Don’t be afraid to show your passion and don’t give up at the first hurdle. Not having a degree hasn‘t stopped me, as I continue to show my passion and commitment to the cause. But that’s not enough. You need to be aware that you’re learning – ask questions and don’t be afraid to say you don’t know something and you need support. It’s easier to teach someone who wants to learn.
Anna Feuchtwang, CEO, National Children’s Bureau I learn best by doing Expand Anna is the Chief Executive of NCB. She is also the Vice-chair of Asylum Aid, a charity which provides free legal advice and representation to the most vulnerable and excluded asylum seekers, and lobbies and campaigns for an asylum system based on inviolable human rights principles. Starting out in the voluntary sector “At 18 I wasn’t particularly interested in academic study, I was more interested in learning by doing. While there were strong expectations that I would go to university, when I didn’t get the required A levels it helped me focus on what I wanted to do most – which was to become a journalist. I was a journalist on a local paper and actively involved in international campaigns like the Anti-Apartheid Movement. When a job came up at Oxfam working as a press officer on campaigns it seemed like the perfect combination of my interests. I stayed with Oxfam for over ten years and had been promoted to Head of Communications by the time I left. Professional development My early development as a manager came primarily from being a trade union rep and receiving excellent training from the TUC and the National Union of Journalists. For the past ten years I’ve learned most from being part of a peer learning group using a technique called action learning. I benefitted greatly from an excellent coach when I first became a chief executive. My skills have also been developed by in-house training and development. Successes I led a consortium of international organisations to deliver a joint programme celebrating the lives of people living on the zero degrees meridian line as part of the UK’s Millennium event. It became the centre piece of Channel Four’s Millennium programming and featured in the Millennium Dome. I also created an international partnership owned and governed by its national member organisations who together change the lives of children living outside of family care and who support families to stay together. Anna has also been the Chair of ActionAid UK and the Chair of Bond, the membership organisation for the UK’s international development organisations. After working for Oxfam, Anna became Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the Association of London Government where she worked with London’s 33 authorities on child protection issues following the Victoria Climbie case and the introduction of Every Child Matters legislation.
By 'child protection' services do you mean children being removed from parents by social workers? Expand The child protection services under threat include social work to identify where a child is suffering or likely to suffer a significant level of harm at home, and should be placed in residential or foster care. But local children's social care includes many other services, such as - Social work to help families overcome problems and stay together Support for young carers looking after a relative Essential help for children with special needs or disabilities and their families Making sure lone refugee children in the area receive care and accommodation Providing sufficient, good quality residential and foster care placements Making sure children in residential or foster care have regular reviews of their placement, independent advocacy and mechanisms to have their views taken into account There are several other agencies involved in protecting children, for example the police and health services, and whilst their funding is separate and not directly affected by the withdrawal of central government's formula grant to councils, the work itself is extremely interdependent and where local authorities struggle to fulfill their child protection duties, the effectiveness of the other agencies will be diminished too.
Cathy Shimmin, Senior Training Manager, Directory for Social Change 5 ways round the degree Expand “I had a vague idea but not really a plan” When I was little I always wanted to teach. I had a vague idea but not really a plan. I was doing well in school until I hit about 14 (hormones, world experience, divorce – parents not mine!) and just lost interest in school. I busked my way through a handful of ‘O’ levels and got out of there as quickly as I could. For the next nine or so years I crawled my way through various jobs: waitressing, shop work, architect’s assistant, clothes concession manager, data entry clerk (even in shipping 1980’s job titles were not aspirational), bar manager, gym receptionist and tons of temping office type jobs. It all just seemed like an aimless meandering at the time. However, when I look back, some of this experience gave me the best grounding in the world of work. I worked with all sorts of people at all sorts of levels in huge variety of settings. I learned loads about team work and masses about good and bad management and leadership – real experiential learning. In the early 90’s I left my gym job (very telling when you look at me!) and had my first ever period of unemployment. The Dublin job centre made me go for an interview with a charity, Carmichael Centre (a little like UK CVSs). It was for a role as Assistant to the Director. I told her honestly that I didn’t have a clue why FAS had sent me but that I was very organised and efficient, had a good work ethic and that ‘it might be a blast to work for a charity for a change’. (Do not try this line if you are going for an interview with a charity. The sector and Equal Opps interviews are a bit more sophisticated nowadays.) I got lucky. She liked me and we gave it go. 1. Get someone who believes in you and is prepared to mentor you. The late Kate O’Sullivan was a truly wonderful mentor to me at Carmichael Centre. I PA’d for her for about 10 months and then she created a project for me to manage full time. It was working with people who had been long term unemployed and I loved it. I had some real learning curves as I moved into managing other people but found a niche in working with people to help them find out about how they could move forward in their careers. 2. Find something you are sincerely passionate about. I had a real interest in helping people who had left school early and not quite found their place in the world (wonder where that came from?). I had a genuine belief that most had much more potential than they were realising. With that belief as a starting point, it becomes easy to help people. During my five years in this role I got lots of experience and some qualifications in Management and computer skills (it was all still quite new then). One year we had a shortfall in funds for providing some aspects of our job-seeking skills training. Kate, pushy as ever, decided I could do it myself. “You know how to write applications, you’ve had tons of interviews – think about your experience, read about the theory and put it into something that looks like a workshop.” Aaaarrrgghh! “I just kept looking for opportunities to grow my skills” I did it though. It worked. I loved it … and I remembered that I had always wanted to teach. So I just kept looking for opportunities to grow my skills. I loved that job but needed to re-group and think about the future. I took some time out to think about it. Working at the Directory for Social Change The first thing they said at my DSC interview was “So, tell us how you got to this stage in your career’. Wow! I had a career – how did that happen? I told them about how I just loved to help people learn and grow, and was a proficient administrative manager and loved working with charities. DSC would be a great place to get a bird’s eye view of the sector and learn more about training and events. They offered, I accepted and my 6 months has become 15 years. During that time I’ve had a few roles at DSC – all within their training services. 3. Let those who can help know what you want to do and what you need to do it. The CEO, Debra Allcock Tyler, took over after I had been there for a couple of years. She had 1-1’s with every member of staff when she joined (good practice by the way) and during mine I ranted on about how much I loved training and wanted more opportunity to deliver than just organise and manage it. She listened. Debra was my second mentor and lived up to all my expectations of what a good mentor should be. She gave me an initial six weeks’ mentoring, threw me in the deep end, gave me some course titles I could deliver, told me to get the material together, gave me some delivery dates – and then supported me all the way. I learned more from that experience and mentoring in six weeks than I could have learned in any three-year teaching degree – experiential learning that I could use in a practical way. At that time I was the In House Training Manager at DSC as a result of a couple of internal promotions. I was doing both this and trying to get training experience in. 4. Say yes to some of the stuff you don’t like doing, get noticed and learn from it. One budget planning period I mentioned that it could be economically wise for DSC to employ some trainers on a full time basis. Debra said, ‘write me a proposal, with the numbers in’. Do you know, I nearly didn’t. I hate writing to structure and well, numbers, we’ve been there. I still have a copy of that e-mail and proposal I sent to Debra and I still have my job as the first trainer DSC took on as an employee. I love it. 5. Keep learning! Most careers worth their salt are a journey rather than a destination. I loved learning to be a trainer and am still learning. Every day I deliver a training course I give myself some review time afterwards to see what I can change, add, take out, learn from that day – no matter how many times I have delivered it before. Passion and commitment above qualifications If you have a genuine interest in the field you pursue, if you demonstrate your willingness and commitment to learning, if you look out for and maximise opportunities that work well for the organisation as well as yourself, you are much more likely to be hired for your attitude, and given the skills training along the way. The voluntary sector is a rewarding and challenging place to work. We do so much with so little. Never worry that the ‘little’ is about your academic attainment. The ‘much’ is about your passion and commitment. If you have that, go for it, it’s always a commodity in demand in this sector and certainly what I would look for in recruits in my field – always over and above qualifications.
Cheryl Stagg, Administrative Assistant, Barnardo’s I did an apprenticeship instead Expand I didn’t go to uni because I wasn’t sure about my career path in school: I went to college and ended up enrolling on an aviation course, which I completed it but it wasn’t really for me. I was keen to make a difference I was motivated to work for a charity in the first place because I was keen to make a difference and decided on a meaningful career. I chose Barnardo’s because it’s a well-known organisation. When I came to Barnardo’s they helped me to apply for the Business Admin apprenticeship vacancy in the office. I was successful. I have good communication skills which have helped me to learn new skills around the workplace. I completed my L2 & L3 Business Administration apprenticeship with the help of Palmersville Training and I am now employed as a full time admin assistant. I have been working in the Charity Sector since October 2011 and really enjoy my job and the challenges that come with it. Doing an apprenticeship I really enjoyed the experience and learning different tasks such as covering reception and collecting evidence for my portfolio. I had lots of support from the staff, including my tutor who I had regular reviews with to go through my learning plan. I felt welcomed and realised that administration was what I wanted to do as a career. If you don’t have a degree and want to work for a charity – go for it I would tell young people to go for it. I didn’t want to do a degree – and now I have a Level 3 in Business Administration and I’ve got a great job at Barnardo’s. I really enjoy my job and every day is different. I’m taking on extra responsibilities and hope to progress in my role in the future.
Chloë Darlington, Policy and Communications Manager Policy and Communications Manager Expand Chloë Darlington, Policy and Communications Manager Chloë has a Masters degree from Edinburgh University and developed her communications and fundraising skills as a producer of plays and drama festivals in Edinburgh. Since then, she has worked in the children and young people’s voluntary sector, initially as External Affairs Manager for the young people’s helpline Get Connected (now The Mix) and then as Communications Officer for youth participation at Woodcraft Folk. With an increasing focus on campaigning and social justice, she became Policy and Communications Manager for Children England in 2014. Chloë has been a trustee of Trust in Children, which makes grants to projects around the world helping children to access education, since 2004. Contact: [email protected] 020 3597 6296 / 07980 26 26 11
Claire Whetstone, Director, Enfield Children and Young Persons' Services Expand Claire has worked in a management role for children’s services within the third sector in Enfield since 1990, predominantly developing services for disabled children and young people, young carers and refugee and asylum seeking families. Prior to this she worked in children’s services in Camden and also worked as a volunteer supporting young students in Germany for 10 years. Claire has a MA in Child Studies and also offers training and professional development for local childcare /play/ youth staff teams. Her greatest concern is that the work of smaller, local / grass roots organisations does not have the appropriate recognition at government and policy development level and that local authority cuts have significantly compromised the effective preventative work of these organisations. Being a Trustee of Children England will support the range of issues that ECYPS have been presenting to the Communities minister in the past two years.
David Holmes CBE, CEO, Family Action (Chair of trustees) David Holmes, CEO, Family Action (Chair of trustees) Expand David has senior leadership experience in services for children and families in the voluntary sector, local government and central government, and was Chief Executive of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering for 7 years from 2006 to 2013. He became Chief Executive of Family Action in March 2013. Before moving to local government as a Deputy Director of Children's Services, David directed the Child Protection, Adoption and Children’s Trusts divisions in the Department of Health and then the Looked After Children division in the Department for Education and Skills. He began his career as a solicitor in private practice and then worked for several years in NHS management. David was a member of the Government's Expert Working Groups on Child Protection and the Internet, on the Future of the Care Population, on Private Fostering and on Adoption. He has also served as an Adviser to the Local Government Association on Children's Services David is currently a member of the Advisory Group to the Children’s Commissioner for England. He is also currently Chair of Children England and Chair of Naomi House (a children's hospice group). He is a former Chair of the End Child Poverty coalition, the Connaught Group of children's charities and the Alliance for Children in Care. David was awarded a CBE for Services to Children and Families in the New Year Honours 2014. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Founding Fellow of the Society of Leadership Fellows at the College of St. George, Windsor Castle and a Member of the E3M Social Enterprise Leaders Business Club. He won CEO of the Year at the HR Distinction Awards 2016.
How does this relate to the LGA's call for £2 billion to plug the funding gap in children's services? Expand The Local Government Association has identified that councils will need £2 billion to address the shortfall in funding for children's services by 2020. Whilst this funding from central government would address the immediate funding crisis for children's social care, the sustainability of local services would still be an issue after 2020, when councils would be left to rely on income generated locally to fund children's services. Unless we retain a national mechanism for distributing money from general taxation, poorer areas will face an inevitable discrepancy between the care and protection that local children need and the funds they have available to provide it.