CHILD AND FAMILY SOLUTIONS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Director
- Founder
- Counsellor
Alison is the founder and director of CFS and has been a social worker since 1990.
She now practices as an Independent Social Worker and Expert Witness in private law matters in the family courts and offers consultation on public law matters cases when needed.
She is frequently recommended to offer expert assessments and intervention in complex and high conflict cases, some of which are now in the High Court.
Having had over 20 years of Local Authority social work experience, she is able to offer advice on working with most client groups, although her expertise is mainly in the field of Child Protection.
She has also been a Children's Guardian - public and private law - for 10 of her years in social work.
Alison is a trained counsellor and has appreciable experience of mediation and conciliation work.
She has skills in working with contact resistance and has successfully helped several estranged parents reunite with their child/ren including where unavoidable, effecting and moreover managing a transfer of residence for those children to ensure they are able to have a relationship with both parents.
She is a trustee of the national charity Families Need Fathers. ( www.fnf.org.uk ) Alison however works to an ethos of shared parenting, believing that children need both parents in their lives in order to flourish.
She is a member of the international organisation Leading Women for Shared Parenting. ( http://lw4sp.org )
Whilst she has developed a specialism in assessing cases of alienation and hostile parenting, her focus is nonetheless on repairing and working therapeutically to resolve issues arising from strained parent child relationships.
Amanda is a compassionate and caring professional who always puts children at the heart of her work. She is commended for her clear reports and her honest and open manner when needing to challenge parents.
Ashley did an undergraduate degree course in Psychology with Criminology, during which she developed a particular interest in Attachment Theory, which is highly relevant when working closely with families. She understands the importance of a child having a relationship with both parents whenever that is possible, and is motivated to achieve this outcome.
Her skills and her successes in family work are attested to by several very complementary ‘thankyou' emails from parents and lawyers alike to the director.
Charles has a great deal of empathy and wide field of understanding. His life has taken him from the urban sprawl to the Amazonian jungle and everywhere in between.
Along the way he has acquired skills and knowledge which affords him the ability to transfer seamlessly between environments wherever and however they are presented.
Clarissa is a family support worker and youth worker.
She facilitates events, training and workshops along with consultations supporting positive change. She has done mentoring with parents in Public Law matters to help empower them to see their true worth and specifically to help them navigate through a system which can be confusing for them. She feels it is important to break down the jargon and advocates strongly for them.
Within the private law arena for CFS she is a resilient and diligent contact supervisor who is able to challenge parents when they are not able to put their children's needs before their own and she has worked with some complex cases at High Court Level. She was once called unexpectedly to give evidence in just such a case and we share a wry smile to this day at the fact that she was cross examined whilst wearing a track suit in the Royal Courts of Justice. She was in fact commended in the subsequent judgement for the clarity of her evidence as well as of her reports, despite her attitude.
Job Titles:
- Independent Social Worker
Donia is an experienced social worker qualifying in 2004
Donia has worked in a variety of social work settings ranging from child protection, care proceedings, fostering, adoption and has undertaken independent assessments. Donia works in London and the Home Counties
During the time she has practiced, Donia has completed a variety of public and private law assessments, she has also presented cases to a variety of panels and has given evidence in court.
Doni's career began working in a women's refuge and children homes. This experience has equipped her with the skills to work with children and their parents. Donia is experienced in empowering and motivating families to enable them to make positive changes in their lives.
Donia has held several positions as a senior social worker and has some experience of management, she has supported family support workers and newly qualified social workers.
Donia is trained in Motivational Interviewing techniques, which enable professionals to obtain vital information from familes while championing there positive achievements.
Donia is a strong believer in helping parents understanding the impact of their behaviour upon their children.
Job Titles:
- Expert
- Writer and Consultant
Alan Blotcky PhD is a clinical and forensic psychologist in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr Blotcky is an expert on false allegations of abuse, parental alienation, and best custody arrangements. He can provide professional supervision and clinical advice to CFS.
He has more than 15 published articles in the areas. He has been involved in hundreds of cases and has testifed in many of them.
Job Titles:
- Counsellor
- Member of Resolution UK
- Therapist and Counsellor
Mike is an experienced counsellor who trained in Scotland and England to work with Families, adults and children.
He has been a counsellor for 20 years, initially with Couple Counselling Scotland (now Relationships Scotland) before moving to Shropshire to work for Relate in 2006.
He became self employed in 2015 after the local Relate ceased trading.
He works in secondary schools, in Shropshire and for the local authority Social Services.
He also works to reunite children with estranged parents and supports parents to re start co- parenting, as well as working with couples, adults and children who have personal issues (eg anger management, stress and anxiety) or issues with their relationships (eg communication, boundaries, family systems).
He specialises in working with families who are separating or divorcing, and is experienced in the issues this can bring. He has co -written a course for separating parents, which looks at the issues from the child's perspective, and how the parents can co parent after separation.
Mike is a member of Resolution UK, because of his focus on working for the best outcomes for families and children. He is an accredited member of BACP, and a member the Institute of Chartered Foresters, because he still loves forestry. and it's a hard earned qualification that he's not letting go of!
Mike also enjoys golf and the countryside, which is sometimes a symbiotic relationship, sometimes not...
Job Titles:
- Social Worker
- Independent Social Worker
Sarah is an experienced social worker with many years of working with children and families.
She qualified in 2009 with a MSc in Social Work.
She has worked for local authorities in various teams such as Child Protection, Court Team, MASH and the Fostering Team.
During her years of working with the Local Authority she has completed numerous assessments as an assessing Social Worker and ISW, completing S.7 reports, Form F, Parenting assessments, viability assessments and Special Guardianship assessments.
She has assessed complex cases and facilitated Family Group Conferences.
Sarah specialises in direct work with children and families. Sarah has used a range of approaches to support her work, such as story stems, life story work, adult/child attachment interview and CBT approaches.
Sarah has also worked in a mother and ; baby unit where she supported parents and delivered workshops and one to one sessions based on the PAMS assessment model.
She worked through an extensive list of skills and parenting worksheets for parents in assessing their knowledge and capabilities covering all aspects of parenting, budgeting and safety in and out the home. She has also supervised foster carers who have had mother and baby placements, advising on contact arrangements, log recordings and statutory visits.
Sarah's most current experience has been working in the fostering team with foster carers and looked after children providing a high level of support in a therapeutic agency. She has completed comprehensive risk assessments, matching forms, attended panel, and her focus with the children is providing direct work and coaching.
She is currently completing her CPCAB counselling course and offers counselling skills as part of her work with children and families.
Sarah is passionate about achieving the best outcomes for children and families, she has extensive skills in a wide range of areas and works therapeutically with families.
Job Titles:
- Social Worker
- Independent Social Worker
Sophie is a qualified Social Worker who has extensive experience working with children and families in private law proceedings.
Sophie worked for Cafcass for 10 years and in this time gained invaluable experience and skills assisting families post separation.
Sophie has consistently received positive feedback for her direct work with children skills and her ability to assess their expressed wishes and feelings in the context of their experiences.
Sophie produces concise and analytical reports and has extensive experience of giving evidence in court. She has experience in cases featuring parental alienation, including transfer of residence cases, and also specialises in removal from jurisdiction cases.
Sophie is based in the south east but can cover all areas of the U.K. She is able to assist with transfer of residence cases, undertake Section 7 reports and parenting assessments and work with parents post separation on a consultancy basis.