Interim Child Protection Committee chair appointed

Moray’s Child Protection Committee has appointed an interim chair.

Kathy Henwood, a senior manager and social worker with over 30 years’ experience in children and families care sectors in Scotland and England, has stepped into the position.

She takes over from Susan Maclaren, Moray Council’s Head of Integrated Children’s Services.

The committee meets four times per year and has three main functions: public information; continuous improvement and strategic planning.

The roles, responsibilities of Child Protection Committees are set out in guidelines issued by the Scottish Government, which also outlines the role of other groups which relate to these bodies, underlining in particular the need for child protection work to be closely linked to integrated children’s services planning.

Yesterday Kathy said she was looking forward to taking on the role.

“There’s been a lot of work undertaken recently to improve our joint working across agencies in Moray, and part of the committee’s role will be to oversee this being embedded and developed,” she said.

“These are challenging times for all public sector agencies involved in care services, but by working together we can ensure the best results for our young people in need.”

Susan Webb, Chair of the Chief Officers Group, said: “To strengthen scrutiny of our local interagency child protection services we are delighted to appoint Kathy as the interim Independent Chair of the Child Protection Committee.

“She brings a wealth of experience to this role and we look forward to working with her to ensure the best outcomes for our children.”

Alongside her various strategic and operational management posts, Kathy has been an Associate Assessor as part of the Child Protection Reform programme, a Children’s Guardian and a Development Officer to Child Protection Committees on both sides of the border.

For the past 10 years she has been an Associate Lecturer with the Open University, and is currently delivering on Integrated Leadership and Management in Health and Social Care.