Former President of the Family Division Sir Andrew MacFarlane Appointed Patron of Family Rights Group

Charity Family Rights Group (FRG) has announced the appointment of Sir Andrew MacFarlane as a new Patron, following his retirement as President of the Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales. The charity has also announced Angela Frazer-Wicks MBE, its first ever Ambassador.

Sir Andrew joins the charity alongside our existing Patron, the Rt Hon Alan Johnson. His appointment forms part of a significant governance transition for the organisation, whose mission is to ensure that the child welfare and family justice system supports children to live safely and thrive within their family, while strengthening the family and community ties of those children who cannot live at home.

The manner in which high quality social work and legal knowledge and extensive experience from parents and children come together within Family Rights Group, mark it out within Family Justice as a unique and most valuable resource and voice. I have long supported the work of the Family Rights Group. I am honoured and excited in equal measure to become a Patron of such an excellent organisation.

Angela Frazer-Wicks, who steps down from the Board will become the charity’s first-ever Ambassador. Angela’s eldest two children were adopted in 2004. Alongside raising her youngest child, she has become a national advocate for parents’ voices in reforming the child welfare system, serving on advisory boards for the Department for Education, CAFCASS, and the Family Justice Council.

The appointments align the judicial experience of the former President of the Family Division with the lived experience of Angela Frazer-Wicks MBE.

I didn’t think I would ever feel prouder than I did as Chair of Family Rights Group. To lead the organisation that literally changed my life was an absolute honour and some of the most amazing years of my life. To now become their first ever Ambassador, is hard to put into words. I am proud, honoured, humbled and beyond delighted. I shall do my very best to continue to promote, endorse and amplify the mission, strategy and work of my beloved Family Rights Group.

Professor Kate Morris, an Emeritus Professor of Social Work at the University of Sheffield, is our interim Chair of Trustees. Her career spans frontline children and families social work and academic research into child welfare inequalities. The appointment marks a return to the charity for Professor Morris, who previously served as a policy adviser there in the 1990s.

The appointment of Sir Andrew MacFarlane as patron and Angela Frazer-Wicks in the new ambassadorial role, support Family Rights Group’s ongoing strategy to reform the child welfare and family justice systems. For 50 years, the charity has combined frontline support, including its free specialist advice service, with policy and legal campaigning. The organisation continues to pioneer practices such as family group conferences and recently secured vital legislative changes for children, families and kinship carers, alongside servicing the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care.

Sir Andrew McFarlane photo credit: @Liz_Isles_Photography

June 2026