New interim assistant director, children’s social care

Message from Robert South, the strategic director of children’s services.

This is to inform you that John Churchill has decided to leave the London Borough of Ealing in order to explore new opportunities. John’s last day of service with Ealing was Friday 1 December.

John has played a pivotal role within Ealing children’s services for many years, making a valuable contribution to our work in several roles including his tenure as head of safeguarding, review and quality assurance and as assistant director for children’s social care. Over the course of that time, John has led and introduced many projects and programmes which have always focused upon putting the needs of children and families at the heart of our work.

I am pleased to announce that Joanne Dempster joined Ealing children’s services as interim assistant director, children’s social care on Monday 4 December 2023. Joanne is a greatly experienced, passionate and knowledgeable social care leader who is incredibly excited to be joining our local authority.

Joanne is experienced in court work and pre-proceedings work and values good practice in PLO practice and permanency planning. Joanne is a qualified practice teacher and has experience of setting up pathways for students to train and become qualified social workers as part of a social work academy.

Joanne supports learning and development of all staff and champions learning opportunities for people to train to develop their practice. She has trained in systemic supervision at the Institute of Family Therapy, Restorative Practice and Signs of Safety. Joanne’s particular Interests are: preventative, early intervention work with families and application of social work practice models.