A warm welcome to our new trustees

We’re delighted to announce the appointment of two new trustees to our Board of Trustees – Zahra Printer and Matt Patterson.

These appointments build on the wide representation of skills and life experiences on Family Rights Group’s board and come at a significant time for the charity as we celebrate our 50^th anniversary and embark on new projects to reform child welfare law and practice.

Together, the board will continue to help steer the charity as we continue to build our commitment to promote policies and practices that keep children safe within their family and strengthen the family and community networks of those children who cannot live at home.

Zahra is a senior policy maker in Children’s Social Care. She has both a professional and personal background in this area, with over five years’ experience working in the Department for Education.

Zahra, who has worked directly with the Minister for Children and Families and Chaired the Care Leaver Covenant’s Advisory Board, said: “I am delighted to become a trustee for Family Rights Group – a charity that has been championing the safety and rights of families for over 50 years!

“I’m eager to use my professional and personal experience to ensure more children and families get the right support and have access to support available to them.

I look forward to working with the other trustees to ensure that children and families continue to have their voices heard and that children grow up with a strong support network fulfilled with love and care.”

Matt has worked for almost two decades in British and international politics and diplomacy in communications, campaigns, and media relations. Over his career he has led strategic communications and media handling on a broad range of political, policy and diplomatic issues for senior figures within the political, government and NGO worlds.

Matt, who is a father of four children, one of which has complex special needs and disabilities, has first-hand experience of dealing with children’s social care services and the special education system.

About his appointment, Matt said: “My own experience is that too often the parents, relatives, and children most impacted by the decisions of the child welfare and family justice system are treated as an afterthought.

“If the UK is to have a child welfare and family justice system that works and acts justly, we need their voices and insights to be heard and acted upon from the bottom to the top.

“That’s it is a real privilege for me to become a trustee of the Family Rights Group and to support them and their work.”

The new members join a Board with a wealth of experience including from finance, public affairs, judiciary and healthcare.

You can get to know our new Trustees on: https://frg.org.uk/about-us/our-board-of-trustees/