Napo Family Court Professional Conference 2015
PROGRAMME AND BIOGRAPHY DETAILS OF
SPEAKERS AND WORKSHOP LEADERS
Thursday 18 June 2015
10am—4.30pm
Thistle Birmingham City Centre, B4 6HY
Family Court Professional Conference 2015
‘Children, Changes and
Family Law Proceedings’
Thursday 18th June 2015
9.15 am
10.00 am
Arrival/Registration
Refreshments
Welcome and opening remarks
Jay Barlow, Napo Vice-Chair
Olivia Fitch and Tim Kilsby, Co-Chairs Family Court Committee
Ian Lawrence, Napo General Secretary
10.15 am
Speaker
Sian Griffiths, Independent Social Worker and Report
Author on Child Sex Abuse Cases in Rochdale
11.00 am
Refreshments
11.30 am
Speaker
District Judge Martin Dancey (Bournemouth)
Judicial Conciliation
12.15 pm
Speaker
Elizabeth Coe, Chief Executive, National Association of Child
Contact Centres (NACCC)
1.00 pm
Lunch
2.00 pm
Workshops session 1
3.00 pm
Refreshments
3.15 pm
Workshops session 2
4.15 pm
Closing remarks
Jay Barlow, Napo Vice-Chair
4.30 pm
Close of conference
SPEAKERS
Sian Griffiths, Independent Social Worker and
Report Author on Child Sex Abuse Cases in
Rochdale
Sian has worked as an Independent Social Work Consultant for
5 years. The majority of her work is as an Independent
Author/Reviewer for Serious Case Reviews. Sian was the
author of the Rochdale SCRs regarding Child Sexual
Exploitation published in December 2014. The report was
described by CareKnowledge as: “the most comprehensive
and fully referenced SCR ….It’s one SCR that every child
protection specialist should read”. Sian has since contributed to various conferences
and other events regarding the learning from these Reviews. Sian has been a
qualified Social Worker since 1987, working both in the Probation Service as a
practitioner and manager and later as a Family Court Advisor in CAFCASS. She
was also National Vice Chair of NAPO between 2004 and 2007.
District Judge Martin Dancey
Martin Dancey practised as a family solicitor in Bournemouth
before his appointment as a District Judge in 1999. He sits in
the Family and County Courts at Bournemouth and hears private
and public law children cases. Martin is also a Course Director of
Family Studies with the Judicial College and a member of the
Cafcass Judicial Liaison Committee.
Elizabeth Coe, Chief Executive, National Association of
Child Contact Centres (NACCC)
Social Work Degree – Bristol University 1976-78
Elizabeth worked for Avon Probation Service for 9 years as a
Probation Officer and then as a Guardian and Family Court
Welfare Officer before moving to Derbyshire Probation Service
in 1988 as a Senior Probation Officer. She worked In
Derbyshire as a Field SPO and in the Prison until 1996 before
moving to be SPO at Family Court Welfare and then
transferring to Cafcass in 2001 as a Regional Director.
Within Cafcass she managed the East Midlands and London Regions before
becoming Assistant Director working to the Corporate Director in 2009. Elizabeth
retired from Cafcass in 2011 and joined NACCC in 2012 as CEO.
Ian Lawrence, Napo General Secretary
Ian was elected as Napo’s General Secretary in the
summer of 2013, and his election was the first for many
years of a senior trade union leader from the BME
community.
Ian first joined Napo as Assistant General Secretary in
2008 from the Public and Commercial Services Union
(PCS). This followed service with its predecessor unions
PTC and IRSF as an elected local and national
representative and then full time official. His PCS career
included a spell as Group Secretary to the 80,000
strong Revenue and Customs section of the union, and
three years working in the Criminal Justice Sector. He
also spent over two years within the PCS Commercial Sector where he negotiated
with a wide range of private sector companies on behalf of members who had been
transferred from the Civil Service on TUPE terms.
Ian’s current role with Napo includes being chief negotiator and the Union side
secretary of the National Negotiating Council covering members working within the
National Probation Service and the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies.
Ian lives in Biggin Hill, Kent.
WORKSHOP LEADERS
Lucy Reed, Family Barrister
Lucy Reed is a family barrister and mediator at St
John’s Chambers in Bristol who specialises in public
and private law children work. She is instructed on
behalf of parents, children and Local Authorities.
She is the author of “The Family Court without a
Lawyer – A Handbook for Litigants in Person” (Bath
Publishing, 2014) and of the Pink Tape family law
blog. Lucy has published articles on family law and
litigants in person in legal journals, magazines and
websites, and in the Guardian.
Lucy has a longstanding interest in issues of transparency, which led to the
development of a charity working on that issue: The Transparency Project
(www.transparencyproject.org.uk).
She has been part of a group of practitioners who developed a local family justice
information resource for families involved in family proceedings in the Bristol DFJ
area (www.familycourtinfo.org.uk). Lucy is a Deputy District Judge.
Peter Duff & Lana Sykes, Just Mediation
Just Mediation is a not-for-profit family mediation
service based in Sheffield. As well as family
mediation, Just Mediation is the approved provider
of the Separated Parents Information Programme
(SPIP) for Sheffield Family Court and manages a
NACCC accredited supported contact centre.
Peter has worked with families for over 10 years
dealing with both children and financial matters arising out of divorce or separation.
He is lead trainer for SPIPs and joint co-ordinator of the Sheffield Family Contact
Centre.
Lana qualified as a Family Mediator in 2006 and has extensive experience of
working with families in challenging circumstances. Lana specialises in child
arrangements and has additional qualifications and experience in child-inclusive
mediation. Lana is also a SPIP trainer and joint co-ordinator of the Sheffield Family
Contact Centre.
Jas Tamber, Anthony Collins Solicitors
Jas is a partner at Anthony Collins Solicitors having accepted an
invitation in partnership on the 1 May 2014. Jas was brought up
and educated in the Black Country. He was admitted as a solicitor
in July 2005 and joined Anthony Collins Solicitors in December
2005.
During his training contract he developed a strong interest in family
law generally, and public law children’s work in particular. Joining
Anthony Collins Solicitors allowed him to develop his passion for
representing all parties involved in the public law children’s
proceedings. In July 2010 he was recognised for his ability when he was awarded
the prestigious Hershman/Levy Award for Outstanding Newcomer by the Association
of Lawyers for Children. Around the same time he was admitted to the Law Society
Children Panel and has developed a strong practice representing children both
directly and through their Court appointed Guardians.
Hilary Barrett, Head of Service (Cafcass)
Hilary is a senior Head of Service responsible for South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire,
Hull and Humberside. She came to Cafcass from an LA position in 2010.
Her career spans 32 years, and she has worked as a frontline social worker in a
London Borough, Derby City and Nottinghamshire. Hilary initially carried a generic
caseload but gravitated toward focusing in on working within the field of child
protection.
Hilary took up her first management post in a large teaching hospital, and has held a
variety of managerial positions over the past 26 years, the majority of these within
Local Authority Children’s Services. Her previous post was as Head of Service for
Children with Disabilities, a position that encompassed field work services,
residential and family placements, speech and language alongside therapeutic
provision, it was also a very effective service bringing together third sector providers
through a commissioning model, as well as establishing a Parent Carer Council.
Throughout her long career she has stayed committed in striving to remain child
centred as well as to create a learning environment which values those who work to
protect the vulnerable.
Marie Gittins, Senior Head of Service (Cafcass)
Marie Gittins is the Cafcass Senior Head of Service for the Durham, Tees, York and
North Yorkshire area. She is a qualified social worker with over 27 years’
experience working with children and families for statutory bodies in social worker,
reviewing officer and management roles.
Marie is chair of the York Family Justice Board and is the Cafcass Senior Head of
Service Lead for the national Family Justice Young Person’s Board.
FAMILY COURT COMMITTEE
Jay Barlow, Napo Vice-Chair
Jay joined Napo in 1986 when she became a Probation
Officer in Wiltshire, having graduated from Bath
University.
In 1993 she moved into the Family Court Welfare team
in Wiltshire, before joining Cafcass in 2001. She has
undertaken public law and private law and is currently
working in an early intervention team.
Jay took on the role as Napo Vice-Chair in October 2014. She has historically been
active in Napo as Branch Chair and Equal Rights officer and has sat on Equal Rights
Committee and has been active historically in facilitating monitoring of AGM. She
has been an active member of the Family Court Section since its inception, including
the Section Executive Committee and Cafcass Negotiating
Olivia Fitch, Co-Chair Family Court Committee
Olivia has been a Napo member since joining the
Probation Service in 1986. From 1986- 2003 she worked
in the London area at a number of locations. Napo posts
include Chair of Inner London Branch 1996-99 and Vice
Chair London Branch 2002-2003.
In 2003 she left probation to work as a research officer
with the trade union Amicus (now Unite.)
The job involved providing advice and information to
officers and members on employment related issues; her
areas of responsibility included the post office, local authorities and energy sector.
In 2006 Olivia returned to social work and joined Cafcass. She worked for 2 years at
the Holborn Office before moving to the East Midlands. She has worked in the
Leicester office since 2009 where she undertakes both private and public law. Olivia
joined the Family Court Committee in 2013 and has been Co-chair with Tim Kilsby
since 2014.
Tim Kilsby, Co-Chair Family Court
Tim joined Napo in 1985 when he first joined
the Probation Service in Hampshire as a
Community Service Officer. He moved over
from the offender side of probation to Family
Court Welfare, as was, in 1994. He transferred
to Cafcass at the inception of the new
organisation in 2001, until 2011 in
Southampton and for the last four years in Poole/Bournemouth. Tim has worked for
many years in both private and public law as a Guardian. He is an experienced
Practice Educator.
Tim has been actively involved in Napo as Branch Treasurer, Regional
Representative, Office Contact, and on the Family Court Committee for the last 2
years. Tim is in the happy position of retiring in 2 weeks’ time, so its hello and
goodbye.