Our patrons

Jon Snow is a journalist and television presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.

David is a freelance journalist and presenter.

David grew up in local authority care in Essex. He now provides respite care to looked after children and is heavily involved in his local community in Hackney.

David spends a lot of his working time addressing and chairing conferences, training youth and community workers and speaking in schools and youth clubs. He is often asked to comment on current social issues.

Sir David Bell is a non executive director of the Economist, chairman of Sadlers Wells, the University of Roehampton, Crisis, Common Purpose, the London Transport Museum, the Media Standards Trust, the Transformation Trust, the Institute of War and Peace Reporting and the Walpole Committee.

David was Chairman of the Financial Times from 1996 until his retirement at the end of 2009 and served on the board of Pearson plc for thirteen years until May 2009. 

Sonia Jackson is a Professor of Social Studies and Education at The Institute of Education. 

Her recent research projects have included teenage pregnancy, private foster care and boarding education for vulnerable children.  

Louisa Lane Fox was co-founder of the Last Word Lunchtime Lectures.

Louisa is the mother of three grown-up children: her elder daughter is the entrepreneur Martha Lane-Fox. She lives in London and Scotland with her husband, architect Charles Jencks.

The Earl of Listowel is a Crossbench Peer and a passionate campaigner for the young under-privileged.

One of ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, he has also been a powerful voice in support of Social Workers.

Joyce, who received an OBE in 2007 for services to youth justice, was formerly the Director of Social Services for the London Borough of Hackney and was a member of the Youth Justice Board from its inception for six years.

Joyce is currently a Non-Executive Director of The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, a leading provider of children and adolescent mental health services. She is also a Trustee of The Social Research Unit at Dartington, a charity committed to improving outcomes for children through research, dissemination and implementation.

Esther Rantzen CBE is an English journalist and television presenter who is best known for presenting the BBC television series That's Life!, and for her work in various charitable causes.

She is founder of the child protection charity ChildLine.

Sir William is the former Chief Inspector of Social Services and former chair of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and of the Council of Goldsmiths, University of London.

Sir William’s career as a social worker included senior posts in the probation service and local government as well as the civil service.

Between 1994 and 2001 he served on the Committee on Standards in Public Life and in 1997 he published People Like Us, a government-commissioned review of safeguards for children living away from home.

Dame Jacqueline Wilson is an award-winning English author, known for her vast and diverse work in children's literature.

Jaqueline is best known for her series of novels featuring the character Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in Wilson's 1991 novel The Story of Tracy Beaker, from which has followed three sequels, as well as three CBBC television adaptations: The Story of Tracy Beaker and Tracy Beaker Returns.