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Rukhsana Farooqi

Profile

Dr Rukhsana Farooqi Social Work Consultant/Director of Empowering Black Children and Families LTD a multidisciplinary Team. I have expertise in working with families from Pakistan, India and, Bangladesh and an interest in working with children of dual heritage. Also experience of working in child protection and assessing children and families subject to court proceedings. I have been a Guardian ad Litem for the Leicester, Nottingham, Birmingham and London panels and a part-time Court Welfare Officer for the Middlesex Probation Service. I undertake Independent comprehensive assessments in Public and Private Law Proceedings, immigration, age assessments and work for the Official Solicitor. I have expertise in forced marriage and honour based violence. I have undertaken assessments where there have been issues of radicalisation. I also have expertise in child and adolescent mental health and therapeutic work with young Asian women.

Angela Adams

Profile

I am an Independent Social Worker and expert witness with over 30 years’ post-qualifying experience in Cafcass, the Probation Service, and independent practice. I specialise in family law proceedings, safeguarding, and domestic abuse, with extensive High Court and international expertise. My background includes adoption, fostering, Special Guardianship, and complex risk assessments. A former Service Manager and High Court Team member with Cafcass, I bring nationally recognised expertise, including award-winning work with children and families. I provide clear, evidence-based assessments and oral evidence, underpinned by a relational, trauma-informed approach that ensures children’s voices and safety remain central.

Philippa Hector

Profile

Pippa Hector started Hector Independent Assessments in March 2008 having worked in the statutory sector for over 10 years in Child Protection and Mental Health. She quickly gained a reputation for in-depth assessments and as demand has grown established a small team of Social Workers who offer a comprehensive Parenting and Kinship Assessment service. We have developed a framework for parenting assessments that gives a flexible range from snap shots of parents knowledge to in depth assessments over 12 weeks to analyse not only parental understanding but ability to change patterns of behaviour and promote the needs of their children.

Maxine Harris

Profile

After qualifying as a social worker in 1998 I worked in a local authority children and families team mainly in child protection. I commenced independent work in 2003 working initially as a Childrens’ Guardian representing children in public law proceedings. I presently do independent work with local authorities and private fostering agencies. I have prepared numerous reports for court and have acted as an expert witness in family proceedings. I have knowledge of the Islamic culture, dual and mixed heritage families, lesbian and gay partnerships, family assessments, sibling relationships and family contacts. I have chaired child protection and family group conferences and fostering panels.

Paula Pettit

Profile

I am a Social Worker with 19 years’ experience in children’s services. This includes several years at SWIFT Specialist Family Service where I specialised in domestic abuse, attachment and learning disability. I have extensive experience in specialised risk and parenting assessments, special guardianship assessments and providing expert opinion in family courts. I have worked independently since 2021 and been instructed from local authorities, private fostering agencies, and independent social work agencies. I have a particular interest in domestic abuse, non-accidental injuries, attachment and learning disability. Also have some experience of working with different cultures including Afghan and Pakistani.

Blossom Francis

Profile

During 15 years of post qualifying experience in children and families front line service, I have gained invaluable experience of various facets such as parental substance misuse, parental mental health, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, honour based violence, to name a few. My Asian/Indian background and awareness of cultural issues benefit my assessment and intervention with various Asian and ethnic minority communities. My ability to speak, read and write Hindi and Gujarati is the cherry on top as I am able to tender my services to a larger population. I have undertaken parenting assessments, risk assessments, Pams, SGO assessments and viability assessments.

Karen Gorbutt

Profile

Since qualifying as a social worker in 1994, I worked for Cafcass in private & public law for 12 years & as a Probation Officer. My Local Authority experience is in Early Help & Children's Social Care where I held a specialist domestic violence & abuse post for 7 years. I have worked independently since 2021 as a caseworker when NYAS is appointed as the Rule 16.4 Guardian, as an expert witness in family court proceedings & providing coercive control consultancy & training. I also take direct instructions from parents as a McKenzie Friend in family court proceedings.

Margaret Henry

Profile

I specialize in Cultural Assessments for the African Caribbean Community. I am, PAMS trained and will be undertaking Parent Assessments. I have twenty-one years of post qualified experience undertaking child protection investigation and am available to undertake complaints and investigations.

Angella Wells

Profile

I am involved in all aspects of court related family work, undertaking safeguarding/parenting assessments, report writing, delivering training and case file auditing. I am competent in PAMs assessments and have an interest in evidence-based intervention models of assessment/teaching such as Triple P parenting and various strengthening families’ models. I have previously worked as a Child’s Guardian/IRO advocating and supporting children and young people. More recently I have been involved in strategic management with oversight of a range of quality assurance functions, including policies/procedures, performance management, inspection preparation, contextual safeguarding of vulnerable adolescents and serious case review learning.

Surinder Kumari

Profile

I have considerable experience of court processes and have undertaken numerous assessments for the courts on different aspects including Parenting, Friends and Family Assessments, Sibling attachment, Core Assessments, Social Work Assessments, Contact and Risk Assessments. Some of these have been complex pieces of work with families where there have been child deaths/torture, surrogacy and forced marriages. I am trained to undertake Parenting assessments using the PAMS assessment tool parents with learning difficulties and undertaken the teachings. I am passionate about working with families and presenting good quality assessments to assist the decision making process for children and their families.