Staff biographies

Key staff from the Fostering Network have been profiled below.

If you would like to speak to any of the people listed, let our media team know on 020 7620 6441 or media@fostering.net.

Robert Tapsfield, chief executive

Robert Tapsfield has been chief executive of the Fostering Network since 2004.

Robert qualified as a social worker 30 years ago. He began his career as a social worker specialising in work with children, young people and families. Following this he spent many years at another London borough where he headed up a team of specialist social workers with responsibility for children in long-term state care before moving on to manage a range of different services. These included family support, child protection and residential and day care facilities for children and their parents. In 1999 Robert was appointed chief executive of the Family Rights Group where he developed and promoted the charity’s work on family group conferences and kinship care.

Robert has written a number of reports and policy documents. These include The Cost of Foster Care (with Felicity Collier), Kinship Care: a Family Rights Group perspective (in Kinship Care, edited by Bob Broad) and Funding Family and Friends Care: the way forward (with Alison Richards).

Robert is currently a director of the Children’s Workforce Development Council.

Areas of expertise: confident to talk on all areas of policy relating to foster care.

Raina Sheridan, deputy chief executive

Raina Sheridan has been deputy chief executive and director of policy at the Fostering Network since 2005.

Raina has substantial experience of working in the voluntary sector. As director of the Hackney Carers Centre she was responsible for developing strategic campaigns to support unpaid carers.

Raina then took on the role of project manager at the Barnet Children’s Fund, a government-funded scheme to improve outcomes for 5 to 13 year olds, working on projects with a wide range of multi-agency professionals in line with the Every Child Matters agenda.

Raina has lead responsibility for developing the Fostering Network’s policy which aims to improve the rights and opportunities of foster carers. Raina has written policy papers on long-term foster care and leaving care and is currently developing the Fostering Network’s policy on the professionalisation of foster care and the impact of fostering on the sons and daughters of foster carers.

Areas of expertise: educational outcomes of children in care and professionalisation of foster care.

Freda Lewis, director (Wales)

Freda Lewis was appointed as the director of the Fostering Network Wales in 2007.

Freda’s background is in the health service where she originally trained as a nurse and health visitor. Prior to joining the Fostering Network, Freda worked for the Welsh Assembly Government as the adoption and fostering policy manager. Freda's career has ranged from direct work with families as a health visitor, including supporting foster carers, to service improvement and policy development. Freda is also a trained counsellor and previously worked for a voluntary organisation for unwaged people.

Freda’s current role is to lead the work of the Fostering Network in Wales and ensure that the voice of foster care is heard within the devolved context.

Area of expertise: foster care in Wales.

Kate Lewis, director (Northern Ireland)

Kate Lewis has been director of the Fostering Network Northern Ireland since 1998.

Kate has a Master of Social Work degree from Queen’s University, Belfast and practised for several years in statutory child care services, with a special interest in fostering. For over 10 years she worked as head of professional services at Relate, where she was responsible for managing a range of counselling and mediation services. In 1987 Kate set up and managed the Family Mediation Service, a pioneering project in Northern Ireland for separating and divorcing families.

In 2004, Kate undertook the project management of a regional strategy for foster care in Northern Ireland and has worked with a variety of stakeholders to realise the vision that it contained for transforming fostering services. She has a particular interest in improving the educational outcomes of looked-after children. She has a strategic leadership role in delivering Fostering Achievement, a unique scheme funded by government that offers practical and financial support to foster families to assist them as first educators. It recognises the crucial role that foster carers play in encouraging and supporting children in foster care to gain a sense of achievement and to reach their potential.

Areas of expertise: fostering in Northern Ireland and educational outcomes of children in care.

Hazel Halle, director of services

Hazel has been director of services at the Fostering Network since March 2005.

Hazel has worked in child care social work for over 30 years. During eight years as a service manager in an East Midlands local authority, Hazel restructured the council’s fostering and adoption service and created one of the first ever recruitment teams to increase the number of potential foster carers. Hazel also worked as a senior manager for a voluntary adoption agency in the East Midlands.

At the Fostering Network Hazel has overall responsibility for services to support foster carers and fostering services in England. These include the advice and mediation service, which provides independent advice to foster carers during the investigation of allegations, and Fosterline, a confidential advice line for foster carers. Hazel also manages a team of regional consultants, a consultancy service for fostering services and training services for England.

Areas of expertise: recruitment, training, support and development of foster carers and fostering services.

Malcolm Phillips, Fosterline manager, England

Malcolm Phillips is the manager of Fosterline at the Fostering Network.

Malcolm began his career as a science teacher. He then became a qualified social worker and worked for a south London borough for 13 years. He subsequently worked for a county council for four years, initially as a senior social worker and then as team manager in the children and families service. In 1990 Malcolm was appointed as the fostering manager for an inner London local authority.

In 1998 Malcolm joined the Fostering Network, and since 2005 he has managed Fosterline, the national adviceline for foster carers funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. This service provides detailed advice to foster carers and social workers throughout England. Enquiries can be about any aspect of fostering including the law, tax, benefit entitlement, care plans for fostered children, complaints, allegations and questions about managing contact with birth families.

Malcolm was involved in the development of the Department of Health’s Looking after Children materials. He is the author of several published articles emphasising the key role of foster carers and young people in effective decision making and is a regular contributor to Foster Care magazine.

Areas of expertise: child care law and practice relating to fostering, allegations and disputes between foster carers and fostering services or local authorities, fee payments and training for foster carers.

Adam Hug, policy and campaigns manager

Adam Hug coordinates the charity’s policy work in conjunction with the deputy chief executive and manages the Fostering Network’s parliamentary work and responses to government consultations.

Adam is currently working to influence the Children and Young Persons Bill, the Care Matters implementation plan and the review of the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ Working Together guidance on allegations. Adam also leads the work on the Fostering Network’s four key campaigns on payments, leaving care, allegations and long term foster care. In addition, Adam oversees the Fostering Network’s annual survey of allowances and fee payments for foster carers.

As co-ordinator of the Fostering Network’s Rapid Response Group, Adam is in regular contact with foster carers who want to be involved in campaigns to improve foster care.

Prior to joining the Fostering Network Adam worked in the political division of a public relations consultancy. He also previously worked as policy and campaigns manager for a group working with trade unions in Israel and Palestine and for the Labour Party as the national chair of Labour Students.

Areas of expertise: allegations, allowances, payments, long term foster care, leaving care and professionalisation.

Helen Clarke, development worker, recruitment and retention of foster carers

Helen joined the Fostering Network in 2004 and provides advice and guidance to fostering services on the recruitment and retention of foster carers.

Helen co-ordinates the Fostering Network’s annual raising awareness campaign, Foster Care Fortnight which aims to encourage more people to think about becoming a foster carer.

Helen is currently leading on two projects funded by the Children’s Workforce Development Council. These are to develop new promotional materials to help fostering services recruit more foster carers and a second to track provision of peer mentoring schemes for foster carers in England.

Helen has written a number of publications for the Fostering Network including Improving Effectiveness in Foster Care Recruitment and Good Practice Guidelines for Managing Initial Enquiries to a Fostering Service, as well as a series of information sheets. Helen also writes a bi-monthly e-newsletter for fostering services, Attracting and Keeping Carers.

Areas of expertise: recruitment and retention of foster carers and foster carer peer mentoring.