Joanna Manning, National Lead Substance Misuse, The Children’s Society People have always seen the potential in me Expand As someone who entered the sector in 1991 as a volunteer with few qualifications, I welcome your campaign. I left grammar school at 16 with no qualifications and little aspiration. Although I always kind of felt I had something to offer – empathy and understanding. I grew up in a working class family who didn’t go to university or have degrees, plus as a family we had our own share of dysfunction and stress to deal with. In my career I have been lucky and people have always seen the potential in me and looked beyond qualifications. As a manager in a children’s charity I too have done the same with others and the service and especially the service users have benefitted as a result.
Katharine Sacks-Jones, CEO, Become Expand Katharine is the Chief Executive of Become, the charity for children in care and young care leavers. Become helps young people to heal, grow and unleash their potential. They do this through direct support, driving improvements in practice and campaigning for change. Katharine has a background in politics and campaigning and has worked in charity sector for over 10 years. She has worked on issues including homelessness, unemployment, mental health and domestic abuse. Before joining Become Katharine was the inaugural Chief Executive of Agenda, the alliance for women and girls at risk.
Kathy Evans, Chief Executive Chief Executive Expand Kathy Evans, Chief Executive Kathy joined Children England in 2010 as Deputy Chief Executive, leading Children England’s Programmes as the DfE’s Overarching Strategic Partner for the VCSE sector. She became CEO in April 2013. After graduating from Trinity College Cambridge, Kathy took a full-time CSV volunteer placement in a children’s home, leading her to train in counselling and to work with young people in secure accommodation for several years. She moved into policy work in 1997: firstly for DrugScope, specialising in drug treatment for young people; then to The Children’s Society where she remained for 8 years, as its Policy Director. During her career Kathy has been the Chair of the Standing Committee for Youth Justice, a trustee of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, a member of the ACMD Hidden Harm group and DCSF Care Matters advisory group. She was also consultant to the Police Foundation and Justice, devising potential alternatives to Youth Courts, to support the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour. Kathy is also passionate about her role as a Humanist Celebrant for the BHA, performing non-religious weddings and baby namings whenever she is able! Contact: [email protected]
Keisha Emanuel, Research and Learning Officer, 4in10 London Child Poverty Network Expand My name is Keisha Emanuel I joined 4in10 in November 2019. We operate as a network, connecting with our members to learn from lived experiences of poverty to affect change. I work as the Research and Learning Officer looking into different aspects of child poverty in London, and exploring how we can better support London’s families. I am passionate about empowerment and amplifying the voices of marginalised communities who are affected by poverty and seeing opportunities within policy agendas for these voices to be heard by key decision makers. Previously I have worked as a front line practitioner within early intervention, youth justice and educational sector providing support to vulnerable families. I have seen the effect that austerity has had on families living in various parts of London and am driven to affect change in this area from a policy perspective. I love working with people: relationship-building will be pivotal to my role as I build connections with devoted workers who are just as committed to eradicating child poverty.
Laura Payne, Project Manager, 4in10 London Child Poverty Network Laura Payne, Project Manager, 4in10 London Child Poverty Network Expand Laura Payne, Project Manager, 4in10 London Child Poverty Network Laura is a committed campaigner with over a decade of experience working on issues of poverty and disadvantage faced by children in UK. Laura joined us from Barnardo’s where, as Head of Campaigns, she had notable national and local successes with child sexual exploitation and care leaver accommodation campaigns. Prior to that Laura coordinated the End Child Poverty Campaign, which will be a great experience to draw on as she builds the activities of the network to address the key child poverty issues London now faces. Contact: [email protected]
Lisa Byrne, Director of Finance and Central Services Director of Finance and Central Services Expand Lisa Byrne, Director of Finance and Central Services Lisa Byrne joined Children England in 1993 and is a member of the Senior Management Team. In her role as Director of Finance and Central Services she has responsibility for all finance and personnel functions across the organisation. In her role as Company Secretary Lisa administers the governance tasks for the Trustee Board. Lisa holds a CIPD qualification, is a School Governor for a secondary school in East Sussex and is a Trustee of a small charity in Brighton. Contact: [email protected]
Liza Dresner, Community Outreach Officer, 4in10 London Child Poverty Network Expand Liza Dresner, Community Outreach Officer, 4in10 London Child Poverty Network Liza Joined 4in10 following her ‘retirement’ after 13 years as CEO of Resources for Autism, a front line service charity. She has always worked in direct delivery and with over 45 years of experience of the sector both as a volunteer and in a paid capacity and brings extensive knowledge of disability, refugee, women and children, HIV and homelessness services. What links them all has been a lifelong commitment to fighting poverty and discrimination in both political and practical forums. She has been an active campaigner for the rights of the child from her school days to her current role as Community Outreach Officer with 4in10.
Mark Lee, CEO, The Together Trust Expand Mark has been CEO of The Together Trust since July 2013, having been Regional Director Northwest and Project Director at Barnardo's between 2007 and 2013. Prior to that he worked at The Children's Society in roles including Head of Social Work and Regional Director for the North. He has been a trustee of Children England since 2014 and also sits on the board of the Greater Manchester Council of Voluntary Organisations.
More children are in care in poorer neighbourhoods - are you saying poor people are worse parents? Expand No. Parents in poverty can be just as caring and supportive as wealthier parents (and of course children in better off families can suffer adverse experiences too). It's the extra pressures on poorer parents that make it more likely that problems will occur and relationships will break down - debt, bad housing conditions, insecure tenancies and precarious employment to mention just a few. The relationship between disadvantage and children needing more help and protection is complex, and explored by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Coventry University's Child Welfare Inequalities Project.
Noori Piperdy, Policy and Communications Intern Expand Noori is currently doing a placement year here with Children England as our Policy and Communication Intern, previously completing her 2nd year at Queen Mary University of London studying Politics and International Relations and a summer internship at Ipsos MORI in Public Affairs. She also volunteers for 2020Change, a youth empowerment organisation and at the Wally Foster Community Centre, the largest community centre in Hackney. She's particularly interested in social issues, especially regarding justice reform and the failure to rehabilitate offenders efficiently, as well as equal treatment for children in education regardless of cultural heritage or economic background. She's looking forward to influencing children's policy in these areas as well as others. She will be doing all things policy and communications, but specifically with The ChildFair State inquiry and producing a positive news blog on the website: 'Make the Most of Monday'. If you have any ideas regarding policy and communications, you can get in touch with her at [email protected].