Independent Chair

A former national adviser on children’s services has been appointed as the new Chair of the Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB).

Christine Cassell has more than 40 years’ experience working in children’s services and education.

Her career has included teaching, psychology, policy development and management roles. For the past ten years her focus has been on improvement activity in local authorities.

She has worked as a Children’s Services Adviser for the Department for Education (DfE) and with the Children’s Improvement Board, a national programme to establish sector-led improvement in children’s services.

She is currently the Independent Chair of Derby City and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Boards. She took over the Derby City Safeguarding Children Board in the aftermath of Operation Retriever, one of the first major child sexual exploitation (CSE) investigations, and the Derby Safeguarding Children Board has driven improvements to the local understanding of CSE and the multi-agency response.

“I am very pleased to be taking up this new role and working in partnership with local organisations in Rotherham to help build on the ongoing work to tackle child sexual exploitation and keep children and young people safe,” said Christine.