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Meet the Leadership Team

St. Francis' Children's Society is a registered charity (Charity No.211670) which is managed by a Chief Executive Officer and governed by a Council of Trustees. The Trustees are responsible for the overall governance and strategic direction of the charity, developing the organisation's aims, objectives and goals in accordance with the governing document, legal and regulatory guidelines.

We are pleased to introduce you to our current Leadership Team.

Post-adoption BME mother walking with son in park

Angela Dakin - Chief Executive Officer

Angela joined the SFCS team in July 2021.  She has extensive experience in strategic planning, performance, transformation, and management of stakeholder relationships at times of organisational change. She has a distinguished record across local government, health and the charity sector, including previously working as the Business Manager for Barnardos.

Angela is deeply committed to the care, support and safeguarding of children and young people, and to empowering individuals and communities to change their stories and life outcomes through a commitment to diversity and inclusion. She also has extensive expertise in project management, governance, financial and grant funding through her ongoing work as the National Impact Committee Member with BBC Children in Need, having formerly served on their Grant Committee.

Angela is the current Vice Chair of Trustees for St Christopher’s Fellowship (a national children's charity) and serves on the Member nominations committee and safeguarding committee. She is the Trustee representative on the Foster Panel as well as providing strategic input to supporting service provision for children with complex needs.  She will now support SFCS through the next stage of its journey to build for long term sustainability for the benefit of service users, especially children who wait the longest to be placed.

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Safia Boot - Chair of Trustees

Safia has a MSc in Personnel Management from Portsmouth University and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD), holder of an Advanced Certificate in employment law.

She is a serving Employment Tribunal Panel Member, Independent Investigator/Mediator and a Founder of Respect at Work Ltd with various portfolio roles, including Chair of CIPD - Milton Keyes Group (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) and Ambassador for MKIAC (Milton Keynes Islamic, Arts & Culture).

She has 30 year+ background as a HR Executive in the public (NHS) and private sector (IT). She is an adoptive parent of two (now grown up) children and a previously approved foster carer.

Post-adoption BME mother walking with son in park

Roy Bean - Trustee

Roy provides SFCS with the lead for commercial and property management. He is MCIPS accredited as a Procurement and Project Manager for Sodexo with a MSc in Construction Project Management and a BA (Hons) in Construction. He has over a decade of experience in Facilities Management, Construction and Professional Services at private sector companies, public sector housing associations and government bodies.

Roy is passionate about continuous business improvement and committed to equity, diversity and inclusion.  He founded a social enterprise network providing mentoring, networking, and career guidance via the ‘Equality Partnership’ to promote access to elite professions and leadership roles to aspiring individuals facing socially constructed barriers.

Little sister kissing big sister on cheek

Dawn Jarvis - Trustee

Dawn is a former NHS Nursing Director and a registered adult and children’s nurse with Board level experience over a 30-year period. Her contribution has covered change management, service development, operational and strategic transformation projects. She has also led on workforce capacity building, staff, and patient engagement.

Dawn will bring extensive experience in working in a regulatory environment to implement effective practices to support CQC and Ofsted inspections and safeguarding requirements. She has further supported the NHS Race Equality agenda.

Dawn left the NHS end of 2020 to set up her Healthcare and Diversity Consultancy service to support strategic change and remove barriers for staff and service users.

Post-adoption BME mother walking with son in park

Laura Weedon - Trustee

Laura provides the lead on safeguarding, Trustee training and works as a Police Detective in Domestic Violence with Hertfordshire Constabulary conducting complex investigations and risk assessments. She has extensive experience of working with multi-agencies and formerly worked as a Legal Administrator in Wills and Probate with Tollers Solicitors and Shoosmiths in Debt recovery and conveyancing.

Laura's BSc (Hons) degree in Sociology and Criminology and her Graduate Diploma in Law combines well with her experience in the criminal justice system, working with multi-agencies. This enabled her with the ability to risk assess and analyse complex situations in an efficient manner and in tight time restraints.

Having had to deal with vulnerable people and children in challenging situations, Laura has a strong commitment to our purpose.

St. Francis' Children's Society is first and foremost committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers working with children to share this commitment. We apply recruitment and selection procedures which seek to ensure that no employee, trustee or volunteer is appointed who may pose a risk to children or is otherwise unsuitable to work with them.