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To speak to an adviser, please call our free and confidential advice line 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm, excluding Bank Holidays). Or you can ask us a question via email using our advice enquiry form.
Are you a parent, kinship carer relative or friend of a child who is involved with, or who needs the help of, children’s services in England? We can help you understand processes and options when social workers or courts are making decisions about your child’s welfare.
Our advice service is free, independent and confidential.
To speak to an adviser, please call our free and confidential advice line 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm, excluding Bank Holidays). Or you can ask us a question via email using our advice enquiry form.
Our online advice forums are an anonymous space where parents and kinship carers (also known as family and friends carers) can get legal and practical advice, build a support network and learn from other people’s experiences.
Our get help and advice section has template letters, advice sheets and resources about legal and social care processes. On Monday and Wednesday afternoons, you can use our webchat service to chat online to an adviser.
Mark was a trustee of Family Rights Group for six years, from November 2016 to November 2022.
A qualified social worker since 1981, Mark worked as a practitioner and manager in children’s services in Haringey, Newham and Hackney. From 1997 he worked as an Assistant /Deputy Director in Thurrock and Barnet and from 2009, worked as an adviser in a number of authorities subject to government intervention including Birmingham, Wiltshire, Doncaster and Norfolk. Mark was the Chair of Devon’s Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards and a member of the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. He was a keen golfer and an avid West Ham fan, and between them, Mark and his wife have six children and seven grandchildren.
Remembering Mark, Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive at Family Rights Group, said:
“Mark was wonderful. He was intelligent, witty, principled, easy to work with, engaged, supportive and always willing to help in his role as a Family Rights Group trustee. With a twinkle in his eye and a fabulous smile, Mark was a pleasure to work with and always very, very kind. I learnt a great deal from him, as did many others at Family Rights Group and in children’s social care. We are thinking of Jean, his children and grandchildren, who he treasured so much.”
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