DOING RIGHT BY THE CHILD

De-centering the professional and organisational, and re-centering the child and family.

How does practice with children and young people hold the child’s interests uppermost and at the forefront of everything that is done, how and why it is done? How does practice with children and young people avoid decision-making that prioritises the comfort of professionals, the needs of systems and processes or how things have always been done, over what might be best and needed by children and families?

Isabelle Trowler was appointed as the government’s first Chief Social Worker for Children and Families in 2013. She qualified as a Social Worker in 1996 and has worked as both a practitioner and senior leader across a range of local government settings.
Isabelle chairs the National Practice Group and is a member of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel and the Family Justice Board. She was also a founding member of the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care (now known as Foundations).
With more than 30 years’ experience in the children’s sector, Isabelle has made significant contributions to national policy and practice, including the 2022 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and the government’s response, the development of the statutory children’s social care national framework, and the refresh of post-qualifying standards for child and family social work. She is currently working closely with the Families First for Children pathfinders and has a particular interest in the national rollout of multi-agency child protection teams.

Emily Thomas is a Prison Governor currently working at HMP/YOI Isis in South East London. Joining the Prison Service in 1999 as a graduate on the Accelerated Promotion Scheme, Emily became a Governor in 2009. She governed HMP/YOI Cookham Wood until 2013 and was the last Governor of HMP Holloway, leading the closure of the prison in 2016. She has spent most of her career working with young adult men in prison.
In 2012 Emily won the Civil Service Award for Leadership for her work at HMP Cookham Wood.
Emily also worked within the Ministry of Justice on the Transforming Rehabilitation programme.
Emily is a Trustee of the Shannon Trust and the Prisoners Education Trust. She has two daughters and lives in London.

Anthony has been a qualified teacher for 27 years, starting as an English teacher and holding senior roles in six secondary schools across five local authorities. He holds a National Professional Qualification in Executive Leadership and a Diploma in trauma and mental health. Five years ago, he moved from mainstream education to alternative provision, driven by a belief that too many children were being ‘lost’ in the system. After leading a Pupil Referral Unit, he realised he needed to unlearn much of what he knew about schools and embrace a new approach rooted in trauma and attachment theory. Anthony is now a passionate advocate for embedding neuroscience and childhood brain development into education training. Over the past four years, he has developed Relational Inclusion, working with the Violence Reduction Unit, the police, Manchester University, and various schools and PRUs. On a mission to change the world, his book ‘Educating Everyone: An Introduction to Relational Inclusion’ was recently published.

Nana is an experienced senior leader and Director of Relational Practice in Camden. A qualified Social Worker, family and systemic psychotherapist, and systemic supervisor, Nana has over twenty years’ experience in children’s services, spanning statutory work and CAMHS.
Nana has a proven track record of developing innovative, systemic approaches across several London local authorities, transforming practice culture and embedding whole-system ways of working. Passionate about challenging social injustice, Nana prioritises collaboration and unorthodox approaches, with a strong focus on the impacts of racism, poverty, and powerlessness. A seasoned lecturer, Nana has taught at Goldsmiths, the Tavistock and Portman, Institute of Family Therapy, and the Association of Family Therapy, and served as one of four Directors at the Institute of Family Therapy.

Hilary is the Director of Practice and Learning at SHiFT. She previously worked in Youth Custody Services, focusing on preserving meaningful family connections for children in Youth Offending Institutions. Before her training as a systemic psychotherapist, Hilary worked as a Social Worker in child protection teams in the London Boroughs of Ealing and Newham. She worked in a specialised domestic abuse team and an adolescent exploitation team, driven by her strong commitment to assist childen and young people facing challenges beyond their families.

Assistant Principal, Outwood Academy, Ormseby
Biography TBC