132 Children & Families Across Borders (CFAB)
Carolyn Housman is the CEO of Children and Families Across Borders ( CFAB) the UK’s only NGO with a dedicated international social work team, Children and Families Across Borders http://www.cfab.org.uk, which alerts social services and professionally assesses long-term care options for children domestically and in 130 countries to ensure every child has a safe home. She is Vice-Chair of the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance, whose mission is to promote and strengthen the social service workforce to provide services when and where they are most needed, alleviate poverty, challenge and reduce discrimination, promote social justice and human rights, and prevent and respond to violence and family separation. She is also a Professional Advisory Committee member of the International Social Service network and Chair of the Cross-border Child Safeguarding Working Group, comprised of social work leaders within Home Office, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Department for Education, Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) and the Children’s Commissioner’s Office. She has co-authored ground-breaking research into the practice, challenges and solutions in cross-border child protection and child placements. She regularly lectures in university degree courses on international challenges in social work. During her career, she has successfully advocated for and monitored the implementation of system change in different countries – from advising governments in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia on setting up National Referral Mechanisms for trafficked persons through to leading Inter-American Development Bank seminars on developing local procurement systems for sustainable development in Guatemala. She has broad international experience, having worked for Amnesty International (USA), the Washington Office on Latin America (USA), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (Austria), and, currently, Children and Families Across Borders (UK).
Eve Joy Wilson is a UK-registered social worker. She has an undergraduate degree in Linguistics from SOAS and a postgraduate degree in Social Work from Goldsmiths College. She trained with CFAB in 2018, and practiced in a local authority children’s safeguarding team before returning to CFAB in 2021. 
She is interested in social work activism and collaborative campaigning, and co-organises SWots, a monthly reading and discussion group for social care workers. You can join the Swots mailing list by emailing swotsgroup@gmail.com and reach Eve Joy on Twitter @evejoywilson. You can also sign up to the first SWots session of the year on parent advocacy and empowerment in child protection here: SWots 1: Parent voices for change in the US & UK with Tim, Rich & Clarissa Tickets, Wed 10 Aug 2022 at 17:00 | Eventbrite
Call CFAB on 0207 735 8941
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131 Lena Dominelli on Ukraine
I talk with Professor Lena Dominelli on Ukraine. We talk of her new book ‘Putin’s War in Ukraine’ and the challenges of reconstruction and disaster management. She is a qualified social worker and holds a Chair in Social Work at the University of Stirling. She was previously Co-Director at the Institute of Hazards, Risk and Resilience (2010-2016) at Durham University. Lena has specific interests in projects on climate change and extreme weather events including drought, floods, cold snaps; wild fires; earthquakes, volcanic eruptions; disaster interventions; ‘vulnerability’ and resilience; health pandemics; community engagement; coproduction and participatory action research. She has created green social work as a new paradigm for theory and practice. Her research on disasters includes funding from the ESRC, EPSRC, NERC, SSHRC, the Department of International Development and Wellcome Trust. Lena is a prolific writer and has published widely in social work, social policy and sociology including topics covering children and families, child abuse and domestic violence, masculinity, and older adults. She is Director of the MSc in Disaster Interventions and Humanitarian Aid starting soon at Stirling. Lena currently chairs the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) Committee on Disaster Interventions, Climate Change and Sustainability and the Special Interest Group on Disaster Interventions for the British Association of Social Workers (BASW). She has been supporting social workers and providing guidelines on Covid-19 since early January 2020 beginning in China. Lena has represented the social work profession at the United Nations discussions on climate change (UNFCCC), since Cancun, Mexico in 2010 and was President of IASSW from 1996-2004. Her work has been recognised globally through various honours bestowed upon her.My current research interests include: Covid-19. Disaster Interventions including health pandemics, climate change, extreme weather events, flooding, droughts, earthquakes. Working with children and families, including child abuse and neglect. Working with older people, particularly around developing resilience in old age. Masculinity in disasters, including substance misuse and intimate partner violence. Globalisation, neoliberalism and social policy. Feminist Social Work. Anti-Racist Social Work.
Dominelli L (2022) Putin’s War in Ukraine: A challenge for social workers and others. University of Stirling Public Policy Blog [Blog post] 19.04.2022. https://policyblog.stir.ac.uk/2022/04/19/putins-war-in-ukraine-a-challenge-for-social-workers-and-others/
First paragraph of the book reads: Putin’s War in Ukraine. Words fail to describe the mixture of emotions and thoughts that crowd my mind as I listen to the horrendous stories narrated by social workers in Ukraine. I have been in contact with them since 24 February 2022 when they first contacted me to ask for help. Since then, I have organised the Social Work for Peace Virtual Network (SW4P) to respond to their expressed needs. SW4P is one of a number of social work groups offering support to Ukraine. Fortunately, I have had a generous outpouring of offers of help through it, and I thank the many social workers in the UK and elsewhere who have responded positively. Some have even stressed their willingness to go to Ukraine and contribute from the frontline – courageous beyond measure or foolhardy? It depends on your point of view
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130 Social Workers Across Borders
Professor Johnston Hong-Chung WONG is a welcome return guest. He co-founded —Social Workers Across Borders in 2005 and talks of social work in mainland China and Hong Kong. Since then, this ,mainly voluntary, charity, has responded to tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural disasters showing that social work skills are tranferrable into the front line and can help in the immediate aftermath of tragedy. It also demonstrated that they can operate in a humanitarian, neutral way. They can work alongside organisations such as International Red Cross, coordinating services and supporting the most vulnerable. The normalisation of communities after traumatic upheaval with professional assessment of need, crises intervention and the directing of resources to facilitate treatment. Ukraine does need enormous support immediately and, eventually, in reconscruction. We talk of this.
Social Workers Without Borders is a post-disaster humanitarian care organization, currently working in Greater China, especially the Mainland, and is committed to providing spiritual reconstruction and development of social work projects for post-disaster residents. Regardless of politics, race, religion or nationality, we are mainly professional social workers, uphold the belief that love knows no borders, provide professional voluntary services, and provide emotional and mental health to the vulnerable.
Johnston Wong, Professor in Social Work and Social Administration, started his career as a youth worker in Hong Kong. His early academic interests focused on youth and family work, branching out to psychological stress, unemployment and industrial social work. In Hong Kong he participated in various district and central government committees related to youth policies, education, social care and hospital governance. Since 2005 he was involved in many post disasters social work interventions and become the non-executive director of the Social Workers Across Borders. www.swab.org.hk In 2006 he joined UIC as a Faculty member and helped to design the Service Learning Scheme and Emotional Intelligence Programs as parts of Whole Person Education. Later he was appointed as the Chief of Student Affairs. He taught many courses like Social Work and Chinese Laws, Disaster and Emergency Management, Healthcare Social Work, Social Group Work and Crisis Interventions.
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129 Mothers with challenging adult children
“Difficult, mothering challenging adult children through Conflict and Change”. is a new publication by Judith Smith just released by Roman and Littlefield.
Judith R. Smith, PhD, LCSW, is a senior clinical social worker, therapist, researcher, and professor at Fordham University. She is a leader in gerontological research focusing on women’s experiences as they age. She is a Fellow at the Gerontological Society of America and a Faculty Scholar at Fordham’s Ravazzin Center on Aging and Intergenerational Studies.
So many mothers have to manage through enormous challenges including, regular violence, from adult children with either mental health problems, substance abuse, profound learning disabilities or other chronic conditions. She offers real stories as learned experiences, shining a light on the shame, embarrassment and fear that pervades so many families.This is a book for all whether carers, or cared for and advocates structural change in what amounts to one of the most hidden challenges to our communities.. Judith takles these issues and looks for ways to improve social policy and treatment as well as basic awareness raising of the scale of the need.
Difficult is for parents, concerned family and friends, health and mental health professionals, and policy makers. The book provides resources for women to find social support, stay safe, and engage in self-care.
Difficult: Mothering Challenging Adult Children through Conflict and Change Rowman & Littlefield
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128 More voices from Ukraine 2
Raisa Kravchenko adds to more voices from Ukraine. She was, until very recently, Executive Director, Board Chair and co-founder in 2004 of the All Ukrainian NGO Coalition for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities. It is a network of 118 Ukrainian local non-governmental organizations and agencies for persons with intellectual disabilities representing about 14 thousand families from all the regions of Ukraine. https://www.facebook.com/vgocoalition,https://www.prosto-pro.com.ua/, www.inteldisabilities-coalition.com.ua Since 2020 the NGO Coalition is a the member of Inclusion Europe ( https://www.inclusion-europe.eu/about-us/#members )
Raisa is one of the foremost campaigners and recognised authorities in this field. She still heads her local. regional group and, with a disability herself,supports her adult son who has learning difficulties. Obtaining prescribed medication is increasingly difficult e.g. Raisa’s district of 200,000 people had 12 prescribing psychiatrists. Now there are 2 and, understandibly, those in poverty cannot look to buy elsewhere if that is even possible. With the disruption of the Pandemic and now the war, services that were already limited are at breaking point.
Ukraine, until recently, addressed the needs of those with intellectual disability with a medical model, supported by the efforts of the voluntary sector. Psychiatric assessments and medication were the norm. Day care and respite provision was mainly up to families. Personal assistants were found and engaged at cost to families, especially hard for those in poverty.
Currently, a lot of Ukrainian families taking care of a person with ID had left Ukraine for Europe as war refugees and talk of the warmth, care and support from the partner NGOs, the Governments of European countries and all European people.
The coalition states that quite a lot of families stay at home whatever the situation in their localities due to peculiar condition and perception of their loved one with intellectual and behavior disabilities. Also, the mothers (main care providers) survive significant burn out and have physical diagnoses more often than average people everywhere in the world. And they also can not stand the complicated trip. Persons with autism could hardly stand an abrupt change of their place of residence and people around, and their families also stay home in spite of bombing and hardships. In any case, the care giver has to dedicate all her/his time to care as all the supporting community based services stopped. It is estimated that 45% of all those diagnosed with ID have a dual diagnosis of behavioural problems making care even more difficult.
Totally, over 261 thousand Ukrainians are awarded official disability status due to a psychiatric diagnosis. Naturally, all day centers are closed, all community based services stopped. Care institutions for above 30 thousand Ukrainians with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities try their best to continue care and both national and local authorities support their specific war needs. But it’s just not nearly enough.
Before the war NGO members provided community based services and self-help peer support to all their members with a minimum support from the public funds which is not available now due to the onset of war.
There is some support from Inclusion Europe but much more is needed as displacement, dislocation and fear drive through communities and greatly increase existing risk to very vulnerable people and their carers.
There is much need fro financial help and the following are the assessed target areas for support.
- Donations to the NGO Coalition Bank account in Euro for the individual aid to families taking care of a person with ID – the Tax Code of Ukraine permits to provide without tax a donation of 3470 UAH per year per person. ( about £90 or $120 )
- Professional services of the Social Worker for the family of persons with ID to get access to the general humanitarian aid programs as well as the individual work aimed at meeting urgent needs caused by the war (e.g., health emergency, broken flats by bombs, gitting prescriptions for the psychiatric medicines, etc). Expected cost to cover 20-30 families is 900 Euro per month including taxation and travel costs.
- Support to families through financing of personal assistant wherever the family is. The average cost for individual assiatant for one person with ID according to individual needs is 500 Euro per month including taxation. Some mothers can not leave the adult or child autistic son and daughter for more than 1 hour to purchase food, medication or stand in line at the bank machine, so, personal assistance is a basic need.
Following the war these are estimated needs:-
Rehabilitation with the separate programs for persons with intellectual / behavioral problems, care givers, care staff.
Restart of the service provisions to Ukrainians with ID by NGOs (we would appreciate highly the crisis donation of 15000 euro per NGO)
Initiation of the supported living program for those Ukrainians with ID who lost care because of the war (whose care givers are perished, became disabled, homes ruined etc).
Bank details: Euro account: UA203052990000026005010114058, SWIFT PBANUA2X. Code 26521104
I hope to bring more voices from Ukraine in the near future.
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127 Social Work Voices from Ukraine
Professor Oksana Boyko starts the series of social work voices from Ukraine. As the war continues, she shares her understandably strong feelings and begins the reflection on the activity of social work in the middle of this invasion. This recording is of an interview with her,led by Professor Tan Ngoh Tiong, Chair of the Global Institute for Social Work and professor of Social Work at Singapore University and I was asked to join in and agreed to publish this audio as a podcast.
Currently Oksana is also Associate Professor, Head of BA in SW Program, Chair of the Department School of Social Work named after Professor Volodymyr Poltavets at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA), in Kyiv, Ukraine. As well as having a distinguished academic career, she has had around twenty years of expertise working in various national and international projects on mental health and psychosocial support, community crisis management, social entrepreneurship, international social work. She is also a member of MHPSS Technical Working Group in Ukraine.
Oksana has also been for the second year a Project Local Expert and Crisis Management trainer working for an International Project ‘Enhancing community resilience in Ukraine. Psychosocial first aid, support and anti crisis leadership’, supported by Norway Ministry for Foreign Affairs, implemented by NaUKMA and Norwegian Centre for Trauma and Suicide Prevention. Outcomes include: training to become a lead trainer on crisis management, as well as conducting crisis management trainings for various stakeholders and developing the Crisis Management Course syllabus and methodological guidelines for NaUKMA Introducing the course into NaUKMA education programs (for social workers and psychologists).
Hopefully more social work voices from Ukraine can be heard in the weeks to come. There is no denying the bravery of ordinary people caught in this madness. As usual in war, the damage will last for decades , if not longer.
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126 UNSEEN UK Anti-Slavery Charity
Rachel Collins-White is the Head of Frontline Services at Unseen UK, an anti-slavery charity. She is responsible for the delivery of the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract through their specialist support services. Unseen is a UK charity based in Bristol who provide safehouses and support in the community for survivors of trafficking and modern slavery. Unseen also runs the UK Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline and works with individuals, communities, business, governments, other charities, and statutory agencies to stamp out slavery for good.
Rachel has worked with on the frontline with various charities in the last 10 years, supporting the most vulnerable to access support needed to promote independence. Having joined Unseen in 2018, Rachel is responsible for the support provided at 2 safehouses and to survivors based in the community across the Southwest. To date, Unseen have supported 189 women at their women’s safehouse, 79 men at their men’s safehouse and over 385 survivors in the community. This work also includes safeguarding responsibilities, service improvement and collating evidence learnt from service delivery to inform system change.
We talk of the increasing awareness by bodies such as Unseen of the risks that vulnerable children and adults have to endure and the nightmare many end up in.
In concert with many world wide NGOs, charities, law enforcement and statutory bodies focussing on anti-slavery, UNSEEN has acumulated much experience and success although they would say that the task is great still.
Visit their site and take what information you can to help their work.
Links:
- https://slaveryfootprint.org/ a helpful tool to see how your lifestyle and consumer choices have contact with potential victims
- https://www.modernslaveryhelpline.org/ link to the helpline
- https://www.unseenuk.org/about-modern-slavery/download-the-app/ link to download the Unseen app
- https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2021/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2021 link for the most recent NRM statistics
- https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-nationality-and-borders-bill further information on the Nationalities and Borders Bill
Thanks as always to http://albadigitalmedia.com for technical support.
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125 S.I.L.P. Training Donna Ohdedar
Donna has 16 years public sector experience, including her last role as Head of Law for a leading metropolitan authority. Now a safeguarding adviser & trainer, Donna is involved in serious case reviews in both children’s and adults’ safeguarding, domestic homicide and is a SILP Reviewer and Mentor. S.I.L.P. stands for Single Incident Learning Process.. Donna offers ‘SILP School’ her university accredited training course, CPD for reviewers & a free online network for leaders in review practice. She is also the host of the SILP School Podcast. S.I.L.P.Training is now an established process.
We talk of accountability in social care and recognise the power of reviews to make change happen. We agree on learning from the range of activit and issues raised in reviews and the negativity of default deficit thinking.
\Some reports are too long for what’s required and a rapid review can, when appropriate, deliver suitable learning recommendations that can bolster public confidence.—which took us on to the responsibilit of the safeguarding professions to find better ways to show the mainstream media all the vast amount of good work going on–just to balance the cases that result in serious injury or death–in fact it’s only the criminal cases that command space.
Changes could include an improvement in the number of reviews that contain the voice of the family–in 2021 one third of children’s reviews didn’t include this.
Now there are over 70 people who have undertaken S.I.L.P.Training. These include child protection professionals from Health, Social Work and police with a couple of lawyers there too.
All details of Donna and her work are on the links below
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donna-ohdedar-review-consulting-ltd-38a101177/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LtdReview
Safeguarding and Domestic Abuse Sector Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-safeguarding-and-domestic-abuse-sector-podcast/id1554898339
Website: www.reviewconsulting.co.uk
The research that Donna mentioned in the podcast can be found here:
As always, my thanks to http://albadigitalmedia.com for technical support.
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124 Christina Gabbitas ‘No more knives’
‘No more knives’ by Christina Gabbitas is a book and animation for 10 yr old + primary children educating them about how to avoid grooming,county lines and knife crime. A valuable addition to safeguarding resources.
Today I am happy to be back after the Winter break and Christina’s work is always worthwhile. She talks of the professional relationships she’s formed with several police forces and police and crime commissioners.
Christina Gabbitas http://www.christinagabbitas.com is an award-winning children’s author who has encouraged many children nationally with an annual poetry initiative, giving her a Dame Beryl Bainbridge award in 2015 for her work and Sue Ryder Education Award in 2016. Founder and Trustee of Children’s Literature Festivals http://www.childrensliteraturefestivals.com whose mission is to give children from all backgrounds, cultures and abilities an equal opportunity of having access to books to realise the power of reading not just educationally but socially and emotionally too.Christina received a Mayoral Award for Services to Children’s Literature and Child Protection, and was made an Honorary Member of the NSPCC Council for the work that she has undertaken in safeguarding children. Christina’s book Share Some Secrets was awarded a national book prize in 2019, and the publication is now encouraging children to speak out and being recognised globally. The animation resource and publication is being utilised in some PCC’s child exploitation toolkits.
In addition Christina’s more recent work has been visiting primary and secondary schools with Humberside Police, Funded by Humberside Police & Crime Commissioners Office and North Yorkshire Police, Funded by North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners Office, educating children and young people about the signs of grooming, the harnful effects of taking drugs, county lines and the consequences of carrying knives.
Christina wrote a story from an initial commission by Police & Crime Commissioners Office in Humberside where she produced a story to help educate children on the dangers of being groomed into County Lines and being involved with knife crime. http://www.nomoreknifecrime.com The partnership also included a writing initiative with children aged 10+
The story was converted into an animated format that she has been using within her sessions working with PCSO’s and Police Officers.
Schools Feedback. Check what’s been said.
https://www.benthamcpschool.org.uk/news/2022/no-more-knives-or-county-lineshttps://planetradio.co.uk/greatest-
author/https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/19662948.author-christina-gabbitas-backs-police-county-lines-scheme/
Children perspective https://www.nomoreknifecrime.co.uk/humberside-police/
Animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXNVQ4VcBts
The situation in Ukraine is beyond belief. The flood of vulnerable refugees that include so many lone children. Agencies such as Missing Children Europe are struggling to respond. They are doing great work with limited resources and our thoughts are with them.
Thanks ,as always, to https://www.albadigitalmedia.com for technical support.
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123 Missing Children Europe Part 2
Aagje Ieven is Secretary General at Missing Children Europe www.missingchildreneurope.eu , where she is responsible for the strategic development and day-to-day management of the organization.
In this second podcast we talk of a significant group of missing children in Europe—those who run away. We look at why, from the obvious to the preventable and talk of the gaps in response and education surrounding this chronic problem.
Aagje has a background in Health (Bachelor, Leuven 1998) and Political Philosophy (Master, Leuven, and Nijmegen, 2002). She has close to twenty years of experience in research and policy analysis on human rights in Europe and has worked for a number of EU civil society organisations advocating for the rights and wellbeing of children and their families. She coordinated a campaign for the rights of children in vulnerable situations and managed a European membership network supporting families affected by mental health issues. At Missing Children Europe she established a research and training programme on runaways, the largest category of missing children, and led the advocacy on the new EU Child Rights
Currently Secretary General at Missing Children Europe, Aagje heads the European umbrella organisation for ngo’s working on the issue of missing children. They strive to protect and empower children to prevent them from going missing, and they do this by supporting the professionals in our network with research, training, advocacy and awareness raising. They focus on runaways, children abducted by a parent, and unaccompanied migrant children. They coordinate the network of 116000 missing child hotlines which children and families can call when a child is (at risk of going) missing. They also run a network of cross border family mediators that international families which are separating can contact for support.
At missing children, Aagje is responsible for day-to-day management of the organization and setting out the strategic lines together with the Board.
Aagje joined Missing Children Europe almost three years ago, and have since then established their research and training programme on runaways, called RADAR, have established child participation in the organisation, have led our advocacy on the new EU Child Rights Strategy, and is currently working on their new four year strategy 2022-2025.
Research conducted as part of the INCLUDE project shows that overlooking children in international abduction cases leads to feelings of helplessness and anxiety.They work with professionals who assist missing children, children at risk of going missing and their families. MCE supports them to better protect and empower children through research, training, advocacy, and awareness, facilitating exchange and cross-border cooperation. They coordinate the network of 116000 missing children hotlines, and the Cross-Border Family Mediators network. In all of these ways it contributes to more effective, holistic and integrated child protection systems across Europe.
Missing Children Europe website where you will find all of our projects and annual reports: https://missingchildreneurope.eu/
International family conflict – families can find Cross Border Family Mediators here: https://crossbordermediator.eu/
Long term missing cases – NotFound application for all website owners: https://notfound.org/en
Children in Migration – Miniila application with info for unaccompanied minors: https://miniila.com/
Children in Migration – Lost in Migration conference for professionals in the field: http://lostinmigration.eu/#page-top
Children in Migration – Tiny and Apollo campaign to start a different conversation on migration: https://www.tinyandapollo.com/
Thanks as always to www.albadigitalmedia.com for technical assistance with the podcast.
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122 Social Work in China.
Professor Johnston Hong-Chung WONG talks of social work in mainland China and Hong Kong as well as an organisation he co-founded —Social Workers Across Borders.
Johnston Wong, Professor in Social Work and Social Administration, started his career as a youth worker in Hong Kong. His early academic interests focused on youth and family work, branching out to psychological stress, unemployment and industrial social work. In Hong Kong he participated in various district and central government committees related to youth policies, education, social care and hospital governance. Since 2005 he was involved in many post disasters social work interventions and become the non-executive director of the Social Workers Across Borders. www.swab.org.hk In 2006 he joined UIC as a Faculty member and helped to design the Service Learning Scheme and Emotional Intelligence Programs as parts of Whole Person Education. Later he was appointed as the Chief of Student Affairs. He taught many courses like Social Work and Chinese Laws, Disaster and Emergency Management, Healthcare Social Work, Social Group Work and Crisis Interventions.
Social Workers Without Borders is a post-disaster humanitarian care organization, currently working in Greater China, especially the Mainland, and is committed to providing spiritual reconstruction and development of social work projects for post-disaster residents. Regardless of politics, race, religion or nationality, we are mainly professional social workers, uphold the belief that love knows no borders, provide professional voluntary services, and provide emotional and mental health support and spiritual reconstruction services for families and individuals in disasters or difficulties.
Quote from Social Workers Across Borders www.swab.org.hk who specialise in disaster management in China.
“On December 26, 2004, there was a terrifying tsunami in South Asia. This natural disaster strongly shook the hearts of everyone on the planet. As a social worker, besides giving financial support, can I do one more step? We hope to provide professional social work services locally. Therefore, a group of aspiring social workers immediately formed “Social Workers Across Borders”. On January 6, 2005, five social workers and one teacher were dispatched to shoulder the mission of “Social Workers Across Borders”. Local victims in need provide professional services and convey our care. After a year of service and hard work, we became a registered tax-exempt charity on February 2, 2006.”
My thanks as always to https://www.albadigitalmedia.com for technical support on the podcast.
Please pass on the podcast site as this is not monetised.
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121 Action for ME Sonya Chowdhury
Sonya Chowdhury is the Chief Executive of UK Charity Action for M.E., working with children, families and adults affected by the neurological condition M.E.; a role served since September 2012.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E.) affects 250,000 people in the U.K., significantly impacting lives and not just their health. Unfortunately, a lack of understanding and awareness means men, women, and children experience the same disbelief. Some even experience discrimination from friends, family, health and social professionals, teachers and employers.
Sonya took over as Chief Executive when there was great despair in the community from patients of all ages and their parents desperate for support following years of stigma and disbelief. On first impression, Sonya saw it her role to make Action for M.E. a charity that could drive real change. Fast forward to the review of existing activities and a reset containing bold and ambitious plans of change. A strategy focused on increasing transparency and clarity, seeking a collaborative working culture with stakeholders at every level.
Sonya stands by the statement she made at her appointment:”People with M.E. are at the heart of everything we do. Our purpose is to end the ignorance, injustice and neglect experienced by people with M.E. We do this by meeting needs now while securing change for the future. Everything we do is in service of achieving three goals, which we call our strategic touchstones, to tackle these challenges: IMPROVE the lives of people with M.E., INSPIRE action at all levels, and INVEST in change.”
In making bold decisions at the appointment, Sonya was able to drive the charity forward in support and ground-breaking biomedical research to not just offer patients with M.E. support but most recently support for those living with Long Covid. It is reported that over 200million are living with the effects of Coronavirus mirroring symptoms, M.E. patients have described for years. The parallels are highlighted through the charity reporting a 30% increase in enquiries for information and often urgent support after Long Covid and M.E. patients were also unable to access vital services.
Sonya was named in the top 100 most influential women in the West, 2018 and has devoted her career to improving the lives of children and adults’ lives while working to secure change for the future. Sonya started her career in statutory social work. Sonya worked in senior management roles for leading children’s charity Barnardo’s. She was Head of Business Support two days a week and National Lead for the Family Strategic Partnership for the remaining three. In addition, Sonya co-pioneered the ‘Innovating Futures’ programme, which used a newly-created business generation model to help advance the practice of voluntary sector leaders. Sonya also chairs the Management and PPI Groups for DecodeME, the world’s most extensive M.E. /CFS DNA study launched in June 2020.
You can follow Sonya on social media: https://twitter.com/SonyaChowdhury
Visit Action for ME today: https://www.actionforme.org.uk
Learn about ME: https://www.actionforme.org.uk/get-information/what-is-me/what-does-me-feel-like/
As always, thanks to https://albadigitalmedia.com for tech support on this podcast.
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120 Missing Children Europe.
Aagje Ieven is Secretary General at Missing Children Europe www.missingchildreneurope.eu , where sheis responsible for the strategic development and day-to-day management of the organization.Aagje has a background in Health (Bachelor, Leuven 1998) and Political Philosophy (Master, Leuven, and Nijmegen, 2002). She has close to twenty years of experience in research and policy analysis on human rights in Europe and has worked for a number of EU civil society organisations advocating for the rights and wellbeing of children and their families. She coordinated a campaign for the rights of children in vulnerable situations and managed a European membership network supporting families affected by mental health issues. At Missing Children Europe she established a research and training programme on runaways, the largest category of missing children, and led the advocacy on the new EU Child Rights
Currently Secretary General at Missing Children Europe, Aagje heads the European umbrella organisation for ngo’s working on the issue of missing children. They strive to protect and empower children to prevent them from going missing, and they do this by supporting the professionals in our network with research, training, advocacy and awareness raising. They focus on runaways, children abducted by a parent, and unaccompanied migrant children. They coordinate the network of 116000 missing child hotlines which children and families can call when a child is (at risk of going) missing. They also run a network of cross border family mediators that international families which are separating can contact for support.
At missing children, Aagje is responsible for day-to-day management of the organization and setting out the strategic lines together with the Board.
Her educational background is in Health (Bachelor, Leuven 1998) and Political Philosophy (Master, Leuven, and Nijmegen, 2002). She spend 6 years doing research on human rights in Europe at the University of Leuven and as a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University in New York. After that experience in New York, she decided to embark on a career in EU civil society and led a research project on child health inequalities at EuroHealthNet. Since then she has worked for a number of civil society organisations advocating for the rights and wellbeing of children and their families. At Eurochild, she coordinated a campaign to advocate for deinstitutionalisation and family based care for children. For 2 years, she was SecGen at EUFAMI, another European membership network supporting families caring for family members with severe mental health issues.
Aagje joined Missing Children Europe almost three years ago, and have since then established their research and training programme on runaways, called RADAR, have established child participation in the organisation, have led our advocacy on the new EU Child Rights Strategy, and is currently working on their new four year strategy 2022-2025.
Research conducted as part of the INCLUDE project shows that overlooking children in international abduction cases leads to feelings of helplessness and anxiety.They work with professionals who assist missing children, children at risk of going missing and their families. MCE supports them to better protect and empower children through research, training, advocacy, and awareness, facilitating exchange and cross-border cooperation. They coordinate the network of 116000 missing children hotlines, and the Cross-Border Family Mediators network. In all of these ways it contributes to more effective, holistic and integrated child protection systems across Europe.
Missing Children Europe website where you will find all of our projects and annual reports: https://missingchildreneurope.eu/
International family conflict – families can find Cross Border Family Mediators here: https://crossbordermediator.eu/
Long term missing cases – NotFound application for all website owners: https://notfound.org/en
Children in Migration – Miniila application with info for unaccompanied minors: https://miniila.com/
Children in Migration – Lost in Migration conference for professionals in the field: http://lostinmigration.eu/#page-top
Children in Migration – Tiny and Apollo campaign to start a different conversation on migration: https://www.tinyandapollo.com/
Thanks as always to www.albadigitalmedia.com for technical assistance with the podcast.
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119 Sarah Goff , Ann Craft Trust
Sarah Goff, Development Manager – Safeguarding Young People
Sarah is ACT Disabled Young People Manager, she has over twenty years’ experience in the fields of child protection and social care. She is an expert in the field of safeguarding disabled children and her interests include the impact of domestic abuse and child sexual exploitation.
Sarah currently combines her role at the Ann Craft Trust as a lecturer at the University of Nottingham on their BA and MA Social Care programmes. Sarah also delivers safeguarding disabled children training to organisations across the UK to make sure children and young people’s voices are heard. She has also led and continues to contribute to world-leading research projects in the UK and Europe.
We talk over a wide range of things concerning safeguarding disabled children and young people.
website http://www.anncrafttrust.org
some of Sarah’s current work includes
- raising awareness of families’ needs for greater support; Autism and lack of understanding; missed in mainstream
- We Matter Too project : experiences of disabled yp experiencing domestic abuse
- sexual exploitation and learning needs; what help parents need to act protectively
- current projects on sexual exploitation and learning needs
useful links include
https://www.anncrafttrust.org/category/safeguarding-matters-podcast/
ttps://www.anncrafttrust.org/events/national-safeguarding-adults-week-2021/
Sarah’s passion for her work comes accross strongly. After listening , check out their work on their website
Thanks , as always , to http://www.albadigitalmedia.com
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118 Mike Hames, safeguarding expert.
The podcast is back. After a couple of months or so break we head into the 7th year of reporting the world we live in.
We talk of the way safeguarding has changed and the challenges for the future. Mike is still working full time with a residential provider , coordinating all safeguarding work for the group.
My guest is Michael Hames, safeguarding expert, who I’ve known for 25 years and whom I worked with on several initiatives and investigations starting when he was at Scotland Yard.
He was born in Colchester, Essex and after education at the Colchester Royal Grammar School, joined the Metropolitan Police in 1962. He served for 32 years and held a variety of management positions at senior rank from 1970. During much of this time, he specialised in the detection of sex offenders.
For the last 5 years of his service, he was the Detective Superintendent in charge of the Obscene Publications Branch at New Scotland Yard. During his time there, he re-focussed the work to encompass the proactive detection of paedophile offenders and it has subsequently been renamed the Paedophilia Unit of the Organised Crime Group. He developed and refined, the use of the first National Index of convicted and suspected paedophiles until the formation of the National Criminal Intelligence Service in 1993, when the Index was transferred to the Home Office Unit.
He supervised the operational unit which achieved outstanding success and world wide acknowledgment of its pioneering work to combat paedophiles & enhanced his reputation as a safeguarding expert.
He was the U.K. Interpol representative on the Standing Working Group on Offences Against Children. He chaired the sub-committee on law Enforcement methods and was the leading police advocate of legislation to ban possession of child pornography throughout the member States, as well as extra-territorial legislation to deal with child abusers who travel and commit offences outside their jurisdiction. He has regular contact with non governmental agencies such as E.C.P.A.T. (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of children for sexual purposes), The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, in the U.S., as well as law enforcement agencies throughout the world.
He was also a member of the Sexual Offences Steering Committee at Scotland Yard. He has carried out research into Organised and Ritual Abuse of Children and is an acknowledged authority on the subject of Child Sexual Abuse. He has lectured widely at home and abroad and published articles in the press and professional journals. He frequently appears on Television and Radio.
He is now an independent consultant, advising and training at the request of Local Authorities, Charities and Private Companies on a variety of subjects including Child Protection, Staffing issues, Strategic Management and Selection of Staff. His speciality remains the combating of Child Abuse in Organisations.
He holds a post graduate Diploma in Management Studies. He holds the British Psychological Society’s Level ‘B’ Certificate in psychometric testing.
His autobiography, ‘The Dirty Squad’ was published by Little Brown in April 2000.
Thanks , as always, to http://albadigitalmedia.com for technical support.
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117 Brian Iselin slave free trade
Brian Iselin Slavefreetrade ….Brian is an Australian/Swedish counter-slavery campaigner. He is a former soldier (6 years) and Federal Agent (13 years) who, for the last almost 20 years has specialised in counter-slavery operations around the world. While posted aboard as a Federal Agent in China, he started seeing human trafficking cases, and switched priorities to counter-slavery work. He started slave free trade www.slavefreetrade.org in 2018 to shake up a number of things about the way we tackle modern slavery.
Tens of millions of children, globally, are victims of slavery. We talk of the mammoth task to protect the vulnerable and try to afford some children the childhood they deserve. We talk of the need for much more coordinated action and coming together of all statutory and not for profit groups to maximise awareness, resources and legislation to this widespread abomination.
The Freedomer App
We are building the Freedomer App to be a community platform for like-minded consumers to get together and use their combined voice to demand better working conditions for the world’s most vulnerable. If you want your favourite things to be made without modern slavery, this is the way to voice it. As a Freedomer, you can use the App to petition your favourite brands for more transparency about manufacturing facilities ref slave free trade, mount campaigns, gather support for your campaign, even host chats with other people & experts and help usher in an end to modern slavery. You can build momentum with other Freedomers joining you within the app as well as through social media. Engage in dialogue with like-minded consumers and industry experts to keep track of how companies are performing on social sustainability metrics as they listen to their workers.
In order to create the App they are running a crowdfund. www.wemakeit.com….project….the power of your choice
With their volunteer developerss, we estimate 6-8 months of development. If we are able to accelerate that either by the crowdfund to buy full-time dev hours, or by more volunteer commitments, we want to see that time reduced dramatically and get it into people’s hands faster.
We have designed the App screens as of now and are currently optimising the App user flow.
Phase 2 of the Freedomer App will include the ability to scan objects to determine its Made In Freedom rating, creating a marketplace of slavefree products and services so you know you are making the right choice
You can contact Brian at brian.iselin@slavefreetrade.org
Thanks as always to albadigitalmedia.com for their technical help
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116 Lt Joseph E Laramie Ret
Lt. Joseph E. Laramie, ret. Program Manager National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College. Joe has been involved in combatting crimes against children for over three decades in senior law enforcement positions.
He is a Program Manager with the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College working in the Missing and Exploited Children’s and the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Training and Technical Assistance Programs. He retired from the Glendale, Missouri Police Department, with more than 30 years of child protection, investigation and training experience. During his time with Glendale PD he was a child abuse investigator, created the Greater St. Louis ICAC Task Force, and became the founding Commander of the Missouri ICAC Task Force. He later was an Administrator with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, with responsibility for online crimes against children, human trafficking and the computer forensic lab. He served as a subject matter expert on the Missouri Governor’s Cyberbullying Task Force, the Missouri Task Force for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse and the International Association of Chiefs of Police Child Sex Trafficking Training Project. He is currently serving on the Tennessee DCS Child Abuse Prevention Coordinating Committee, and the Board of Directors for the Davis House, a Child Advocacy Center in his home of Franklin, TN.
We talk of the evolution of safeguarding children, the attitudes and the misconceptions that existed and the myriad of challenges that face colleagues today.
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115 Human Traffiking. Follow the Money.
ATII stands for the Anti Human Traffiking Intelligence Initiative http://www.followmoneyfightslavery.org a non profit organisation promoting corporate responsibility,awareness raising,intelligence integration,technical advancement and data collaboration.SAM GRABER is the chief Communications Officer of followmoneyfightslavery.org ATII
We talk of the importance of identifying supply chains in traffiking situations and how front line workers can learn from financial analysts.
Dr. Samantha Graber comes from a holistic healthcare background and has solidified her niche within the ATII team. She comes to ATII with not only an uncanny skill for looking at complex problems holistically, she brings with her a wealth of personal experience navigating the human trafficking world through “boots on the ground” volunteering and tactical strategy. Samantha has completed the US Department of Justice’s Law Enforcement Investigative Response to Child Sex Trafficking course which gives her a unique perspective into law enforcement’s response to this egregious criminal network. This blend of experiences will keep ATII mission-centered and vision-driven in combatting all forms of human traffiking.
Dr. Samantha Graber was an active clinician for over 25 years during which she saw how preventable problems spiral out of control when the core issues are not identified and corrected. This is how ATII. she views the scourge of human trafficking. Samantha will work to unify the anti-human trafficking community through her work at ATII.
I plan to follow up this podcast with a second after March 11th onlineSummit https://followmoneyfightslavery.org/summit/ a packed day of information and education with panels of expert speakers. ( an audience of 1600 already booked )
My thanks , as always , to http://albadigitalmedia.com for their help on the technical side of this podcast.
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114 Children’s Hospice South West
I talk with Laura Robertson from Children’s Hospice South West about how we offer end of life care to our young children and their families.
Laura joined Children’s Hospice South West back in June 2017 after many years of fundraising for both small and large charities. A career that that she did not anticipate when graduating from University of Plymouth with a Theatre degree over 10 years ago, but one that is filled with highs, lows, daily challenges and so much to be thankful for. “What I love so much about my job is getting to meet so many people from different walks of life and knowing that the work that I am doing is making a real difference to local people.
Social isolation is not new to families caring for children with life-limiting conditions. Many are used to long hospital stays far from home, long periods of illness preventing normal daily activities, being unable to attend school due to health needs, and sacrificing social interactions due to care needs.
But the Covid lockdown has brought many new and often terrifying challenges to these families, many of whom have seen care packages fall away and their wider support networks disappear in the wake of the global pandemic.
Children’s Hospice South West (CHSW), which looks after 500 families around the South West, has had to adapt its care model to continue providing the lifeline support the charity has offered since 1995.
Because of the significant risks and the vulnerability of children, routine respite stays at the three hospices – Charlton Farm in North Somerset, Little Bridge House in Devon, and Little Harbour in Cornwall – have been cancelled. But the hospices remain open for emergency and end-of-life care and the charity has developed a ‘hospice, home and virtual’ model to be able to continue caring for families wherever they are and whenever they need it most.
“We try to make the most of every single moment and make memories that we will treasure always”
We have supported children in their homes providing night shifts when care packages in the community have fallen apart, enabling families to step in and care for their children in the morning. We have also been providing care for community children’s nurses, cover over weekends and evenings. Our care teams have been visiting families on doorsteps giving food parcels and lots of virtual support, including a virtual sibling and bereavement groups.
CHSW needs around £11m a year to run its three children’s hospices and around 85 per cent is raised through voluntary donations.
Find out more at www.chsw.org.uk or contact Laura at laura.robertson@chsw.org.uk
Thanks as always to http://albadigitalmedia.com for technical support
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113 Christina Gabbitas Children’s Author
Christina Gabbitas http://www.christinagabbitas.com is an award-winning children’s author who has encouraged over 25,000 children nationally with an annual poetry initiative, giving her a Dame Beryl Bainbridge award in 2015 for her work and Sue Ryder Education Award in 2016. Founder and Trustee of Children’s Literature Festivals http://www.childrensliteraturefestivals.com whose mission is to give children from all backgrounds, cultures and abilities an equal opportunity of having access to books to realise the power of reading not just educationally but socially and emotionally too.Christina received a Mayoral Award for Services to Children’s Literature and Child Protection, and was made an Honorary Member of the NSPCC Council for the work that she has undertaken in safeguarding children. Christina’s book Share Some Secrets was awarded a national book prize in 2019, and the publication is now encouraging children to speak out and being recognised globally. The animation resource and publication is being utilised in some PCC’s child exploitation toolkits.
A recent work was with the Police & Crime Commissioners Office in Humberside where she produced a story to help educate children on the dangers of being groomed into County Lines and being involved with knife crime. http://www.nomoreknifecrime.com The partnership also included a writing initiative with children aged 10+
Her latest book–out on the 4th March ( World Book Day ) is http://www.monahlot.com focusing on a seven year old girl who complains a lot until she is understood better and responds to kindness.
We also talk about the poetry competition for children she organised to help them express their feelings about Lockdown. Called Lockdown Lives . I was very pleased to be one of the judges in what turned out to be an extremely successful project.
Testimonial from Ali Jeremy Director of Communications at NSPCC: “Christina deserves the highest level of recognition from the NSPCC for her dedication and unstinting enthusiasm. She is a wonderful lady who is passionate about safeguarding whilst conveying a love of reading which can open up so many new worlds for our children”
Robert Ruston – Victims and Vulnerable People Lead for PCC Lancashire
Share Some Secrets book and online animation is an excellent addition to our NEST Lancashire Toolkit. Providing suitable resources that younger children can use on their own as well as with teachers, carers and parents is an area of resources that we need to grow and develop and Christina’s resource is a very useful start.”
Thanks to http://www.albadigitalmedia.com for technical support on this podcast.
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112 Sir Peter Wanless Chief Exec NSPCC
Peter Wanless has been the Chief Executive of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children since June 2013. The charity’s longstanding purpose is to prevent cruelty to children, something it seeks to achieve through a mixture of service delivery, research, influencing, advocacy and campaigning. Among the NSPCC’s http://nspcc.org.uk direct services are Childline, 0800 1111 a confidential helpline for any young person with nowhere else to turn, the NSPCC Helpline help@nspcc.org.uk for any adult with a worry or concern about a child, the Child protection in Sport Unit and a network of service centres across the UK focused particularly on abuse and neglect in the early years and child sexual abuse. The NSPCC has been particularly prominent of late in building the child protection case for online regulation of social media services.Peter was previously Chief Executive of what was then the Big Lottery Fund and a Director at the Department for Education between 1998 and 2008. He is on the Boards of Somerset County Cricket Club and the Government’s National Leadership Centre. He received a knighthood in the 2021 New Year’s Honours List for services to children and charity.
We talk of the priorities driving the NSPCC in these challenging times. Supporting young people first, keeping staff and volunteers safe and well and looking to maintain the donation base to continue vital work.
Peter outlines the strategic position of the charity and the constant focus on adapting to threats and challenges to young people. Their work in schools, their combatting of online risks and the increasing workload on their well established Childline service. Training and research are cornerstones of the charity and his job in overseeing all aspects include partnerships with all colleague services, both statutory and voluntary.
Thanks to http://albadigitalmedia.com for technical support on this podcast.
Please give voicemail feedback at side of text.
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No 111 31.8 Independent Christian Safeguarding Charity
Justin Humphreys is joint Chief Executive at the independent, Christian safeguarding charity, thirtyone:eight based in the UK .https://thirtyoneeight.org/about-us/who-we-are/
He has had a career in youth and social work and social welfare spanning over 30 years. During this time, he has worked in statutory and third sector settings to senior/executive level.
31.8 offers a wide variety of services https://thirtyoneeight.org/our-services/ .
Justin currently chairs the Christian Forum for Safeguarding; a collaborative forum for the national safeguarding leads from many of the mainstream Christian denominations and networks across the UK. He is also the founder (alongside Sarah Champion MP) and principal advisor to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Safeguarding in Faith Settings and through thirtyone:eight provides the secretariat. Justin is also a member of the expert advisory group on the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment in the international aid and development sector at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (formerly Department for International Development).
He has undertaken numerous peer-reviewed, academic research projects focusing on different aspects of safeguarding in Christian contexts and is co-author of the SPCK publication ‘Escaping the maze of spiritual abuse: Creating healthy Christian cultures’. Justin holds a Master’s degree in Child Protection and Strategic Management (Edinburgh Napier), a Postgraduate Certificate in Strategic Management (Derby) and a Bachelor’s degree with honours in Social Work Studies (Central England).
The charity produces many publications https://thirtyoneeight.org/news-and-events/publications/
Justin lives in the South West of England and has been married for 28 years with three adult children.
We talk over a wide range of issues and matters that have consumned religious institutions over the decades and look at the image of churches and safeguarding as well as what’s being done to address the challenges.
My thanks as always to http://albadigitalmedia.com for technical help in the production of this podcast.
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110 Monique Auffrey
Monique is the Chief Executive Officer of Carya, a role she began in September of 2020. She is also the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Organization of Social Workers and ( along with myself ) an Advisory Board Member of the Global Institute of Social Workers.http://www.thegisw.org .
As a published author, Monique’s work influences policy on social work, housing and homelessness. Carya https://caryacalgary.ca/ is a social profit agency dedicated to creating strong families and communities for generations. Since 1910, carya has been providing support to individuals, families, youth, and seniors – helping thousands of Calgarians every year to realize their potential and build thriving relationships.Previously, Monique was CEO of Discovery House, a social profit organization providing care to women and their children fleeing domestic violence. During her time at Discovery House, the organization was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Charities, as well as one of Canada’s top three women’s shelters. Her creative leadership pushed Discovery House to think differently about their response to domestic violence, guiding the development of programs for children that help them recover from trauma and break the cycle of abuse.
Monique is also highly influential in the wider non-profit sector, sitting on the Alberta Family Violence Death Review Committee and participating in the National Housing Strategy Round Table in Ottawa.
Her most recent honour was to be awarded Advocate & Catalyst for Change by the Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the Universal Women’s Network as a Women of Inspiration 2020 winner.
We talk of national and global challenges as she has wide experience of international affairs even starting her career working with asylum seekers in the Netherlands.
She is an inspirational person to listen to and is someone that I really enjoyed talking to.
Thanks as always to http://albadigitalmedia.com for technical support in this podcast.
Please remember to leave voicemail messages ( at the side of this text )
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109 Safeguarding in Wisconsin
Safeguarding in Wisconsin with Matthew Joy and Dana Miller
Matthew Joy
Matt has been with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation for over 20 years. Matt has served as a special agent investigating drug and internet crimes against children (ICAC) crimes, a special agent in charge supervising white collar and ICAC crimes, and director working closely with the department’s human trafficking unit, ICAC Task Force, and Digital Forensics Unit. Matt also serves as the Wisconsin ICAC Task Force commander, which includes membership from almost 300 public safety partners in Wisconsin.
In September 1998, the U.S. Department of Justice began a national Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force program to counter the emerging threat of offenders using the Internet or other online technology to sexually exploit children. Under this program, regional ICAC task forces serve as sources of prevention, education and investigative expertise to provide assistance to parents, teachers, law enforcement and other professionals working on child victimization issues. Wisconsin’s ICAC Task Force has been administered through the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation since its inception in the spring of 1999.The Wisconsin ICAC Task Force is a national leader in fighting Internet crimes against children. The task force is comprised of Wisconsin Department of Justice personnel as well as police and sheriff’s departments from around the state.
Dana Miller 
Dana is an Advanced Program & Policy Analyst with the Wisconsin Department of Justice – Division of Criminal Investigation in the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Dana holds a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin -Platteville, and has worked extensively in education and harm prevention surrounding technology throughout the state of Wisconsin. With WI DOJ, Dana manages the daily program operations for the ICAC Task Force, including overseeing Wisconsin’s CyberTips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and communicating statewide with law enforcement regarding CyberTips, ICAC investigations, resources, outreach, and training events. Dana is creator and co-creator of multiple safety programs for Wisconsin Department of Justice, including their online safety interact! e-course and the Protect Kids Online (PKO) podcast. Dana also teaches for the National Criminal Justice Training Center and the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, providing training worldwide to law enforcement and community members.
This is a joint podcast
with PKO Protect Kids Online https://dpi.wi.gov/internet-safety/stay-informed-dojs-pko-podcast
We explore the global challenges of online cyber crime against children and vulnerable adults.Law enforcement, social care, mental health and victim identification are just some of the areas of great concern. Engaging with young people and finding relevant ways of communicating in a digital age as well as the responsibilities that come with large social media platforms.
Thanks as always to http://albadigitalmedia.com for technical assistance with this podcast.
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108 Mental Health First Aid. Paula Power
This programme highlights a much needed service in mental health awareness raising. It’s like a training programme for ‘social lifeguards’—training people to identify, support and refer on, if needed , those struggling with all types of mental health related issues. Paula’s own life experience contributed hugely to her awareness of the value of wellbeing and mental health in overcoming challenges. In the current climate , this is probably one of the most valuable services around as people are suffering such a range of traumas and anxieties due to the impact of Covid19,
Paula is the business owner of My White Dog and facilitator for the 1 and 2-day adult and Youth courses. She is a MHFA Instructor, NLP Practitioner, Mountain Leader, with Business Studies, Positive Psychology and qualifications in Further Education and Social Science at the Open University. She started out in a corporate environment, but always enjoyed adventure and outdoor space, climbing, mountaineering and sailing. When she realised the positive impact of her own wellbeing in this space, She went onto develop skills in education and mountaineering and led groups in the outdoors including expeditions to Africa and Asia. A rewarding role watching students age 13-18 develop latent and new skills when stretched, build resilience, team and leadership skills. She went onto explore other personal challenges when selected to take part in the first all women expedition to the geographic North Pole in 1997. 20 women relaying in teams of 4 across the arctic over 3 months and went onto become Guinness book record holders. She works in partnership with Wiltshire MIND and collaborate with various therapists and charity organisations and am an instructor member of Mental Health First Aid England to raise mental health awareness, reduce stigma and provide the tools to improve wellbeing in work, schools and communities.
Courses are currently delivered on-line so there is no limitation to location. She provides an engaged and safe learning space for all who are open to change. Feel free to get in touch paula@mywhitedog.com
Thanks as always to http://www.albadigitalmedia.com for technical support.
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107 Social Work Today— a new platform.
Social Work Today A new platform
My guest today is Kellie Doubtfire , someone I’ve known and worked with over many years. She has, with COMPASS, produced and developed some of the most useful and memorable events in the social work sector, mixing huge attendance with great content.
Social Work Today, www.socialworktoday.co.uk, is a new platform, designed to give social work professionals an online community with access to essential social work information, news, online events, CPD and jobs. Social Work Today comes with a strong pedigree. For over 25 years, Kellie, SWT’s Publisher, along with the COMPASS events and publications team, has worked closely with health, social work and care professionals offering much-respected consultancy, engagement, marketing, training and career development projects within the sector. It also will provide a daily newsletter, keeping you up to date, well informed and aware of upcoming events.
Kellie’s career in social work, social care and healthcare began over 25 years ago, on finishing her degree at Lancaster University, she her first post was in Education & Welfare for the LUSU. She went on to lead the commercial relaunch of the weekly Nursing Standard magazine in 1996 and to develop and launch the first Nursing Standard Jobs Fair for the Royal College of Nursing. She balanced the commercial development of the RCN’s five monthly titles, including Elderly Care and Mental Health Practice. Alongside this, for 12 years Kellie was also the publishing consultant on BASW’s Professional Social Work magazine as well as other BASW publishing and membership projects.
Kellie’s understanding of the sector, combined with project management and marketing skills, came to the fore as Publishing and Events Director for COMPASS, inspiring the development of the annual COMPASS, the complete guide to social work and social care, launched in 1999; and the development of the successful COMPASS Jobs Fairs programme with regular events in London, Birmingham and Manchester (The Social Work Show). In 2015, Kellie was closely involved in producing the International Federation of Social Workers European Conference. The Edinburgh event was the biggest gathering of social workers in Europe, with delegates from over 40 countries. Kellie’s resulting close relationships and consultations with key people in the social work sector – from service users to those who work in Adult and Children’s services, charitable organisations, service providers to sector academics – have given her the insight and confidence to develop Social Work Today with the COMPASS team in 2020.
Kellie brings a personal touch to her work with her years of experience juggling a full-time career whilst caring for her parents.
Contact: kelliedoubtfire@socialworktoday.co.uk
My thanks, as always, to http://albadigitalmedia.com for technical support on this podcast.
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106 Grantown Remakery. A classic small charity.
I talk to George Livingstone who acts as the development manager for this important charity. It’s one of dozens around the UK that are striving to help balance inequality and create opportunity for those disadvantaged through no fault of their own.Also learning to survive during the pandemic.
So often we overlook the value and importance of small community charities, all making a difference and improving people’s quality of life in so many different ways.
Grantown Remakery http://www.grantonremakery.org.uk provides Employment Skills Development, volunteering opportunities and support for Young People who may be having difficulty in Transition from School to Further Education and Employment, Adults with a Disability or with Mental Ill-Health, supporting all in their journey to recovery and towards fulfilment of their personal goals.
It aims to provide an alternative to landfill disposal by repairing, upgrading, recycling and reselling of goods through a Community based system.
They have developed strong business relationships with both Partners and the Local Community to identify the best service for individuals in need of support and skills development within strong environmental awareness and action.
It is a community social work scheme whose value to the area is significant.
Contact them on Facebook or at their website or email info@grantownremakery.org.uk
Thanks to http://albadigitalmedia.com for technical help with this podcast.
Please leave messeges and suggestions by Voicemail at the side of this text !!! Thanks
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105 David Hencke the search for pension justice.
This is about women born in the 1950’s who strongly claim to have been cheated out of their pensions entitlement.
#BackTo60 http://www.backto60.com supports of 50’s women who demand the return of their earned dues which are being kept from them as opposed to men of the same age. The search for justice has taken considerable time and effort and is still being opposed by the courts and the administration. Visit the website and sign the petition to eradicate this history of pensions inequality.
David Hencke http://www.davidhencke.com has a career spanning 40 years in journalism – mainly as an investigative journalist at the Guardian based in Westminster. He has won nine regional and national awards for his reporting.
He has covered social services, Whitehall and investigated corrupt practices in Parliament including the “cash for questions” scandal which led to the resignation of Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith in the 1990s. He also exposed the hidden payment of a large loan to Peter Mandelson, from another minister to buy an expensive house in Notting Hill, London which led to his first resignation.
More recently on the now closed Exaro investigative website he won an award for exposing tax avoidance by the former head of the Students Loan Company and covered recent child sex abuse scandals. Now investigating the influence of Dominic Cummings, the PM’s adviser, in Whitehall.
David has campaigned constantly for natural justice to be done in the 1950’s pensions case. Read his blog on his website ‘Westminster Confidential’
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104 Suicide prevention. Jeff Patterson at Gaggle
Suicide, self harm and depression haunt young people across the world, taking thousands of lives all over the globe. Combined with the threats from drug and alcohol abuse, bullying, in all forms, and child pornography the risk to students are manifest. Based in Los Angeles, Jeff has developed a company that now offers protection and support to over 4.5 million school and college students.
He has been starting businesses since he was five. Some were failures while others were marginal survivors, and those prior businesses set the groundwork for the success of Gaggle. http://www.gaggle.net
Seeking a solution to manage student safety issues, Jeff founded Gaggle as a secure student email provider in 1999. As trends in risky student behavior like suicide, self-harm, violence toward others, cyberbullying, and child pornography grew, he expanded Gaggle’s offering to include products that help schools create safe learning environments. Unable to find investors when he first launched the company, Jeff has enjoyed not having a boss for the past two decades and uses this freedom to express his creativity and sense of fun—all while helping save kids.
Developments we talk about include a confidential concern line and a cyber tip line as well as a 24 hour monitoring service. Most recently, a service offering qualified telephone councelling is being introduced.
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103 Bradford Children’s Partnership Board–Chair Jane Booth
The new Bradford Partnership Board replaces the Safeguarding Children Board. It is made up of agencies including the Council, Police, Health services in addition to schools and voluntary services that work together to keep children in the district safe.
We talk about multi agency cooperation, major changes to the Boards with the challenges of Covid19 impacting on the community, schools and learning, child protection and so much more.
Jane Booth started her career in social work as an unqualified Probation Officer in 1971 in the West Riding of Yorkshire. She was seconded by the Home Office between 1973 and 1975 to obtain her social work qualification at Leeds University. She continued to work in the Probation Service until 1978 when she moved into generic social work with Bradford Council. While raising young children she did several years on the night duty team, retuning to fulltime work when the first Guardian ad Litem Panels were established in 1984 as, initially, a Children’s Guardian and later as Panel manager.
Moving to London, she worked as a Child Protection Coordinator in Hackney returning to the North at the end of the 1980s. Since then she has operated in a number of management roles sometimes generic but predominantly focussed on children. She was Assistant Director of Children’s Services in Kirklees She joined the Social Services Inspectorate in 1997 and was Interim Regional Manager across the 22 LAs in the North West when she left to join CAFCASS as Director for the North. Through internal promotions she had become Deputy Chief Executive when she retired from full time employment in 2010 and developed her work as a self-employed consultant. For the last ten years she has been working as Independent Chair of a number of Safeguarding Boards, both Adult and Children, across the North of England and carrying out some service reviews and some Serious Case./Safeguarding Adult Reviews.
She currently acts as Independent Chair and Scrutineer of the Bradford Partnership Board https://www.bradford.gov.uk/– Working Together to Safeguard Children.
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