Ian Samaden

A highly experienced professional in the world of Safeguarding and Children's Services with a knowledge of all aspects of assessing risk and providing informative assessments, which are child focused and provide clear conclusions. My twenty-three years in childcare allow me to offer the highest standards of professional guidance to individuals and agencies to undertake court, fostering and parenting assessments. I am also able to offer support for individuals in court proceedings or have who involvement with Children’s Services including acting as a Mackenzie Friend in family proceedings Professional Competencies Nuanced understanding of the Court and legislation, having given evidence in numerous childcare cases, both as a Local Authority social worker and as an independent expert Able to undertake complex parenting assessments, fostering assessments and child care reviews, as instructed by the Court, Local Authorities and independent agencies Providing clinical and practice supervision Significant experience of chairing Care Proceeding panels Previous active member of the County Court Users Group Expertise in all relevant policies and procedures having given guidance on and personally reviewing them for a number of agencies Still operating a successful private counselling practice Experienced tutor having delivered training for a number of organisations as well as lecturing in the Higher Education sector Experienced Relate councilor including acting as a media spokesperson for a number of years Published writer on the dynamics of relationships for publications such as the Big Issue