‘My social worker helped me in every possible way during my time in care’

For Community Care’s 50th anniversary, our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.

In this entry, a former child in care remembers her social worker, Charlotte Stacey, whom she credits for supporting her while she was deprived of her liberty and throughout her time in care.

I am not working in social work, but I would like to nominate a practitioner that I had whilst being under the care of children’s services.

Her name is Charlotte Stacey and from the day I met her she helped me in all aspects throughout my time in care.

She became my social worker when I was 14/15 until I turned 18. She has supported me in many ways – from helping me reduce my hospital admissions to actually finding a place in a children’s home that was right for me, where I could thrive.

She has always gone the extra mile for me, making sure that my care plans were all up to date and supporting me to get out of my deprivation of liberty safeguarding order by helping me manage potential risks when living within a house and a community.

I believe that Charlotte should receive some sort of award because she has helped me in every possible way during my journey in care.

How to nominate a colleague

For our 50th anniversary, we’re expanding our series My Brilliant Colleague to include anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by either:

• Filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.
• Or sending a voice note of up to 90 seconds to +447887865218, including your and the nominee’s names and roles.

Despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry.

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com.