A leading senior manager from Cafcass (Children and Family Court
Advisory and Support Services) will be joining Knowsley Council on
secondment. Colette Dutton, Assistant Director at Cafcass,
will join the council on 10 November for six months.
Cafcass is a national organisation responsible for safeguarding
and promoting the welfare of children involved in family court
proceedings.
Colette’s role will be an integral part of the council’s
Improvement Board, which was established to drive improvement and
change following Ofsted’s inspection for children in need of help
and protection, children looked after and care leavers earlier this
year.
Colette brings a wealth of experience, having worked in the
safeguarding children environment for 15 years - the last four
years of which have been at Cafcass and prior to this, Colette
worked for 11 years in a number of local authorities in the North
West.
Councillor Gary See, Cabinet Member for Children and Family
Services, said “I am delighted to welcome Colette to our
team. Her appointment is part of a programme of intensive
support we have introduced to drive forward our improvement plan
following Ofsted’s inspection. In a short space of time, we
have made a lot of progress, but we know more needs to be
done. I am sure Colette’s experience will help us to deliver
our improvement plan and ensure our children, young people and
their families receive the best possible outcomes.”
Anthony Douglas CBE, Cafcass Chief Executive, said “Colette’s
secondment is one of a number of ways in which Cafcass is
supporting sector-wide improvement in children’s services. We are
pleased to be in a strong enough position to support other
organisations in our sector, just as many of them have supported us
in the past in our improvement journey, resulting in Ofsted finding
Cafcass as Good with Outstanding Leadership and Governance.
Improving children’s services is a tough managerial challenge
and Colette’s proven track record in this area will help Knowsley.
Colette will also have the back-up of the Cafcass infrastructure
and systems if she and Knowsley need it.
Evaluating Colette’s secondment will help us to plan for the
future in terms of our future roles and remits. Cafcass has a
strong group of senior managers and the work Colette will do with
Knowsley will help them and also help us because of the mutual
learning it will generate.”