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.
James Fookes, Policy and Public Affairs Coordinator, The Children's Society Expand Frontline work and lived experience are more useful to policy than a degree I worked instead of going to uniWhen all my friends were going to university, I spent a year working. I felt pressure to go to university, but also felt needed at home. I saved the money I earned, unsure whether I’d spend it travelling or going to uni later on. I’ve always been an activistI’ve been volunteering since I was 15, when I joined the Terrence Higgins Trust’s youth leadership scheme. They’re a really empowering employer and gave our team of young people commissioner-style powers to allocate funding to youth projects on sexual health. When I was a teenager my friends and I supported a daycare centre for families in my area who couldn’t afford childcare over the summer holidays. Volunteering led me to my first paid jobI had this idea of doing police training so I could learn about human trafficking, which was the issue I really wanted to work on. But I quickly realised the police wouldn’t suit me! Terrence Higgins Trust has a ‘no degree needed’ culture and a great organic system where young people who’ve been involved informally can stay with the charity, moving into more formal roles. So when I moved to London to finally start a degree in philosophy, they employed me as an LGBT Community Engagement Officer, essentially running outreach services for HIV testing and support. THT were supportive of me studying while I was working for them, but in no way needed me to get the degree – the qualities they need in their frontline staff are honesty, openness, friendliness and being non-judgemental, and I had those already. Would I have got my first job in policy without my degree? I hope soI started working part-time as Policy and Campaigns Officer for THT while I was also part-time Community Engagement Officer. Although I’d got my degree by that point, I think it was my other experience that they thought qualified me for a policy role – I’d done lots of campaigning and internships and of course knew the cause and the organisation’s values well by then. Unfortunately, there is a false divide between ‘service delivery’ jobs and ‘policy’ jobs when I think it’s important to have people who’ve done both. Frontline experience is more useful in policy than a degreeI would never work in a policy area I didn’t have practical experience of. When my job at THT finished as a result of a restructure, I went to Greece on the spur of the moment, and ended up helping to support the refugee population there. That experience now feeds into my work for the Migrant and Refugee Children’s Consortium at The Children’s Society, where policy work enables me to focus my activism. Find your causeMy advice to young people who want to work in a policy and campaigns role is to get involved in the issues you feel strongly about. If you look around your community, there will be plenty of projects and campaigns that need help – just ask how you can be useful. And that includes on issues you’ve got personal experience of: if something unjust is making you angry or frustrated, you can channel that into activism. After all, there’s a lot for young people to feel angry about, and good policy making needs their voices.
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.
Katherine Hill, Strategic Project Manager, 4in10 London Child Poverty Network Katherine Hill, Strategic Project Manager, 4in10 London Child Poverty Network Expand Katherine Hill, Strategic Project Manager, 4in10 London Child Poverty Network We are delighted to announce that Katherine Hill will be joining our team as 4in10's new Strategic Project Manager on March 8th. She joins us after serving for several years as a specialist to the Joint Committee on Human Rights in parliament, and before that she has had a succession of human rights policy and campaigning roles at Age UK, Scope and The Children's Society.
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]
Lauren Seager-Smith, CEO, Kidscape Expand Lauren Seager-Smith FRSA is CEO of the UK based bullying prevention charity Kidscape. Lauren has worked in child advocacy and youth development for over twenty years previously working for the National Children's Bureau, Save the Children and global volunteering charity Lattitude. Lauren is a member of the Action for Children England Committee, UK Safer Internet Centre Board and Internet Matters Expert Advisory Panel. Lauren is a regular media spokesperson and campaigner, with a focus on child rights in education and the digital world.
Lucy Peake, CEO, Kinship Expand Lucy Peake joined Kinship (formerly Grandparents Plus) as Chief Executive in September 2015. Since then, she has led the charity’s work to raise awareness about kinship care, influence policy change and to transform support for kinship care families through an expansion of evidence-based programmes. During the covid-19 pandemic, Lucy focused the charity on understanding and responding to the specific needs of kinship care families. During the pandemic, Kinship grew significantly to develop and deliver new support services across England and Wales. Lucy is a member of the Adoption & Special Guardianship Leadership Board, the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory Stakeholder Advisory Council and the Kinship Care Alliance. She has been interviewed recently on Sky News, Channel 5 News, BBC World at One, BBC Five Live and Radio 4 Women’s Hour. In 2019 she was honoured to take part in a month-long kinship care knowledge exchange, meeting kinship carers and other kinship care experts across Australia. Previously she spent 11 years at The Fostering Network where she was Director of External Affairs and then Director of Development. Her team led the successful Staying Put campaign which means young people are now able to remain living with their former foster carers beyond the age of 18. She has a PhD in women’s political representation from Southampton University where she worked as a researcher on the British Representation Study 1997 and other projects focusing on gender politics.
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.