Council Members
& Service Providers

Duties and Responsibilities of the Council and the Officers

Officers and Council members of Nagalro take part in many other social work related activities, aside from their work as Children's Guardians, ISWs, family placement specialists, therapists etc.

Being a Council member may inform or enhance these other roles and vice versa. However, when a member has a personal interest in an activity in which Nagalro has a current role which is not related to their official Nagalro role, it is essential that the Council is informed and that no approaches are made to another organisation which could represent a conflict of interest either for the member or for Nagalro. Such personal interests, which may involve research, consultation or training, should be advised to the Council prior to any outside undertaking.

Nagalro Officers

Ann Haigh - Chair

 Ann brings experience of being a practitioner and manager in social services and in the voluntary sector. She has been a Children's Guardian for 10 years and served on governmental working groups including Chief Justice Thorpe's committee assisting the Bulgarian Government on their child care legislation. Ann has actively lobbied to bring about change in adoption and Human Fertilisation and Embryology legislation.  

Sukhchandan Kaur - Vice Chair

Sukhchandan is an Independent Social Worker based in the Midlands. She also works as a Children's Guardian and is a member of the Seen &Heard Editorial Board.

Ann Way - Treasurer

Paul Greenhalgh - Secretary

Paul began working as a social worker in statutory child care 37 years ago. He has managed Child Placement Services in two local authorities and a voluntary sector Adoption Agency. For the past sixteen years Paul has worked as a freelance child care practitioner, mainly within the Court setting, and also worked as a Children's Guardian for many years until 2009. He has been a member and chair of several local authority Child Placement Panels and independent sector Fostering Panels, and has also provided training courses, together with a child care lawyer, to a range of professionals who work with families.

Members of Nagalro Council:

Kate Thomas - South West

Kate has worked in the social work field since 1978. She has been a Guardian since 1984 and an Independent Social Worker since 1990. Kate is also a case practitioner for the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS). She has a particular interest in direct work with children, helping them to understand their circumstances, manage transitions and express their views. Kate has been a member of Nagalro since its formation and joined Nagalro Council in July 2009. She is a moderator of the Nagalro Google Group forum..

Sarah Saunders - South East

Chris Rivers - North West

Chris has worked as an Independent Social Worker since 2005.  He was engaged in local authority social work from 1976-1991, specialising in work with children and families including child protection and fostering and adoption. He was also a Children’s Guardian from 1984-2009 and was once a Team Manager, a GALRO Panel Manager and a Cafcass Service Manager. He contributed to the work of the pre-Cafcass Project Team and set up the Cafcass Smartgroup online practitioners forum in 2000. He was vice-chair of Council from 2009-10. Currently a moderator on the NGG forum and member of Seen & Heard Editorial Board.

Kathy Butcher - London

 Kathy has been a Children's Guardian in London since 1986. Before that she worked as a social worker in mental health, then with children and families. Eventually she took a post as a Principal Officer managing homes for children, day nurseries and family centres. Kathy established a family centre jointly between the local authority and National Children's Homes. Currently she is a senior lecturer in public sector management and human resource management. Kathy joined Nagalro's Council to work towards the enhancement and development of the role of the guardian and to influence developments of the service. She has taken part in organising training and conferences for guardians.

Gretchen Precey - South East

Eva Gregory - South East

 Eva has worked as a Children's Guardian since 1985. She initially trained as a probation officer and as a psychiatric social worker. Eva has worked in psychiatric hospital and in the community mental health service; has also worked as a researcher and management consultant in a private research organisation and has held senior management posts in social services and education departments. She is now appointed as an external assessor and examiner to three university social work courses. Eva is also engaged by two local authorities as an independent investigator of complaints under the Children Act and Community Care Acts.

Julia Isikwe Hughes - London and South East

After spending five years as a local authority social worker in a Children and Families' team, Julia began working as a Children's Guardian in London and Surrey in 1995. She has been a mentor for Guardians since 2000. Julia is also an integrative psychotherapist. She continues to take work from Cafcass as a self employed contractor in London and Surrey. Julia also works in freelance independent social work, and undertakes training for Guardians, solicitors and social workers, on race, identity and immigration matters. Her specialist areas of interest are issues of race, culture and identity, working with black families - particularly those from West Africa - as well as direct work with children. Julia was appointed to the Nagalro Council in 2008.

Alison Paddle - North West

Alison Paddle lives in the North West and is Nagalro Press Officer. She works as a freelance Children’s Guardian, and an independent social worker undertaking expert assessments with a special interest in attachment and adoption.  She has undertaken some teaching on social work courses at Lancaster University. She was on Nagalro Council 2000-2008, including a spell as Chair, and rejoined Council in 2011 where she has an interest in policy issues.

Service Providers

• Editor of Seen and Heard: Julie Doughty
• Principal Administrator:  Karen Harris
• Press Officer:  Alison Paddle
• Policy Consultant:  Judith Timms