Alice has worked within the field of Child Protection for fifteen years, working directly supporting families in the community and within a mother and baby residential setting. She completed her PhD within the Social Care department at Royal Holloway University, which focused on exploring influencing factors on the outcomes for parents working with social services.

Alice delivers training on ‘Applying Attachment, Trauma and Mentalization based principles in social work practice’, to social care practitioners within the UK and Ireland. She is passionate about improving the teaching and training of social workers to better prepare them for practice that facilitates more positive outcomes for families. Her work highlights the complexities of the challenges that families face, and the elements that practitioners need to be taught to consider when managing risk and safeguarding concerns. She currently has a post at Swansea University, as Research Officer, evaluating the implementation of parental advocacy programmes in UK Child Protection.

Liz is a highly experienced social worker with over two decades of practice in children’s social care across both statutory and voluntary sectors. Liz has worked with a wide range of local authorities and national organisations, including Frontline, Step-Up, Pause, and SHiFT. She has served as a subject matter expert for the Department for Education and continues to practice independently, primarily conducting parenting assessments within the court arena.
In 2017, Liz founded Collective Space, a training and practice organisation dedicated to improving social work through systemic approaches that centre relationships and purposeful practice. Under her leadership, Collective Space has partnered with over 30 local authorities across the UK, providing everything from bespoke training packages to whole-system transformation.

Faye is a specialist family law barrister at No5 Chambers, undertaking work in private and public law proceedings. She has a developed a busy practice involving serious matters of sexual abuse, non-accidental injuries to children, fabricated illness and substance misuse. She also has experience of matters within the High Court and Court of Appeal and in particular, those that invoke the 1996 Hague Convention giving rise to jurisdictional issues. Miss Edwards accepts instructions to represent parents, local authority’s and children themselves acting through their Guardian in proceedings.

Professor Anna Gupta is a Professor of Social Work at Royal Holloway University of London. Anna has worked in the field of child welfare and social work practice, education and research for over 30 years. She teaches on social work programmes at Masters and PhD levels. Her research addresses issues of inequality, marginalisation and the promotion of social justice within social work, including work with Black and minority ethnic children and families, unaccompanied migrant youth, children in care and adoption. Much of her recent work has involved participatory approaches with parents who have experienced poverty and child protection services in England. Two of her recent publications are a co-written book: ‘Protecting Children: A Social Model’, and a co-edited book: ‘Unaccompanied Young Migrants: Identity, Care and Justice’.

Fabian Kellman is a qualified social worker having been registered since 2016. Starting out in residential settings and undertaking parenting assessments for vulnerable – often first-time parents with complex needs, Fabian’s passion is that of seeking positive outcomes for children and families. Fabian has a commitment to social justice and advocates on behalf of what is in the best interest of the child offering support to parents navigating the family court systems. Currently studying an MSc in Psychology Fabian seeks to undertake research in relation to Adverse Childhood Experiences and develop programmes and interventions in this field of practice.