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I have undertaken research across an extensive range of social
work and child
protection services and my work has been published widely in
refereed journals, magazines, online resources and text books (over
35 articles
and chapters in the last few years). I have been invited to
speak at international conferences as far away as Hong Kong,
Canada, South Africa
and Australia and am a regular contributor to conferences in
the UK..
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My consultancy experience includes acting as independent chair
for Serious Case Reviews convened under Chapter 8 of Working
Together together with
the writing of overview reports
and management reviews; leading the investigation of
allegations and complaints against managers and staff; providing
expert reviews of practice;
research and evaluation; devising
procedures and protocols; as well as more general
service development and consultancy work at
service and case level.
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I was a practitioner and manager in the field of child
protection for some 17 years before becoming a lecturer.
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I am a member of the Society of Expert Witnesses, an expert
member of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers (ACAL) and am
registered as an expert with the Association of Personal
Injury Lawyers (APIL).
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I have a good deal of experience in developing and delivering
training at all levels from introductory to advanced on a
single agency and multi-agency basis.
I was co-author of the widely used, award-winning NSPCC
training package Safeguarding children: Everybody’s
business. I was one of the four expert contributors
interviewed for the Social Care Institute for Excellence
e-learning object Courtroom Skills.
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I was editor of the international journal
Social Work in Europe for a number of years and still act as
referee of child welfare articles for a number of national and
international journals. I am a regular contributor to
Community Care magazine and have been selected by the editors
to write the expert analysis for the child protection case
reviews which appear in their Risk Factor stream.
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My
particular expertise in the field of social work education and
training was recognised by my appointment by the QAA as a
Specialist Subject Reviewer in Social Work and Social Policy
and by the GSCC to their panel of External Assessors for Post
Qualifying and Advanced Awards.
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My
experience at the
University of
Bedfordshire includes acting as programme manager for
an MA / Advanced Award in Social
Work programme and teaching at qualifying and postqualifying
levels both in social work and nursing.
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I
have been a member of my local LSCB (formerly ACPC) for some
fifteen years in an
advisory capacity and managed its multi-agency training
programme for some years.
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I
have reciprocal links with a range of associates in the academic,
practice and training spheres with whom I am able to work
cooperatively where a wider range of skills or a larger team is
required.
