Who we are

Chief Executive and Senior Management

> Chief Executive - David Holmes
> Executive Director - Barbara Hutchinson
> Director BAAF Central & Northern England - Erica Amende
> Director BAAF Cymru - Jenny McMillan
> Director BAAF Southern England - Jeffrey Coleman
> Director of Marketing & Communications - Harvey Gallagher
> BAAF Scotland Director - Barbara Hudson
> BAAF Northern Ireland Director - Frances Nicholson
> Director of Child Placement - Mo O'Reilly
> Human Resources Manager - Hazel Randle
> Director of Publications - Shaila Shah
> Director of Policy, Research & Development - John Simmonds
> Director of Finance & Administration - George Wood

Chief Executive - David Holmes

David has senior management experience in children’s services in the voluntary sector, local government and central government.

David joined BAAF as Chief Executive in early 2006 from the London Borough of Haringey where he was Deputy Director of Children's Services.  Previously David had directed the child protection, adoption and children’s trusts divisions in the Department of Health and then the looked after children division in the Department for Education and Skills. David has worked on a wide range of recent child care legislation including the Care Standards Act 2000, and the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and key national initiatives for children including Quality Protects, Choice Protects, Every Child Matters and Care Matters. 

David was a member of the Care Matters Working Group on the Future of the Care Population and is currently an Adviser to the LGA on children’s services.

David began his career as a solicitor in private practice and then worked for several years in NHS management.

Executive Director - Barbara Hutchinson

Barbara has worked for over 30 years in social work, social work management and social work education and is currently BAAF's Deputy Chief Executive. Barbara describes her current work as arising from a passionate commitment that social work education should provide workers with the skills, knowledge and confidence to plan and act decisively, ensuring a safe, secure and permanent family base for children.

Director BAAF Central & Northern England - Erica Amende

Erica has almost 30 years' experience in social work with children and families, ranging from divorce court welfare work in the Probation Service; through child protection; to statutory childcare, adoption and fostering. Erica gained her degree and professional qualifications in the 1970's, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Health & Social Services Management in the 1990's. Erica lives in Yorkshire and has three grown-up children. She represents BAAF across a wide area stretching from the Scottish border, down to south of Birmingham. Erica is particularly interested in long-term outcomes for adopted and fostered children, and the services needed to support families who take on this valuable task.

BAAF Central & Northern England >>

Director BAAF Southern England - Jeffrey Coleman

Jeffrey joined BAAF as Southern England Director in 1999. Before that he had worked for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Qualifying as a social worker in 1977, he built up considerable experience of work with children and families as a practitioner and manager in the north Kensington area. He has always been a strong campaigner for the needs and value of social work as a profession. Jeffrey feels BAAF's Southern team plays a valuable role in making available to agencies training packages (together with consultancy and advice) that integrate research with best practice, and that also maintain a strong emphasis on anti-discriminatory practice and the rights of children. The Southern region serves the BAAF membership in East Anglia, through southern England to the south west, including London on the way. Jeffrey lives in west London with his wife and young daughter.

BAAF Southern England >>

Director of Marketing & Communications - Harvey Gallagher

Harvey's brief includes fundraising, membership, media, conferences, websites, marketing and campaigns. Prior to joining BAAF in February 2003, Harvey was Head of Press, Publications & Marketing at the Institute of Education, University of London. Harvey has also worked for YoungMinds, a children’s mental health charity, and 4Children, the charity for out of school childcare. As well as being a father of four, Harvey is a parent-governor and has a passion for news, music and football.

BAAF Scotland Director - Barbara Hudson

Barbara qualified as a social worker in the '70s and her experience includes working as a field social worker and family placement worker in an inner-city area of Leeds. Her management experience includes managing staff in family centres fieldwork teams and residential units as well as family placement services. Since leaving local authority work in Bradford to join BAAF, Barbara has provided training and consultancy to a range of staff and carers across Scotland and Northern Ireland. As a member of the Adoption Policy Review Group and the Inspection team for Adoption Services in Northern Ireland she has made a significant contribution to developing these services. Barbara has also worked with other agencies to develop materials for improving the educational outcomes of looked after children and regularly offers consultancy and training to teams in residential units and to foster carers.

BAAF Scotland >>

BAAF Northern Ireland Director - Frances Nicholson

Frances joined BAAF as its first Director for Northern Ireland on 1 April 2006. She has over 26 years experience of social work with children and families in a variety of settings in south and east Belfast at both practitioner and managerial levels. Frances has specialised in the areas of post adoption and adoption/permanence since 1989. She is committed to addressing the services needed to support adoptive and foster families and social work as a profession. Frances lives in Belfast and has two grown-up children and a lively teenager.

BAAF Northern Ireland >>

Director of Child Placement - Mo O'Reilly

Having started out as a science graduate, Mo O’Reilly has worked in the field of social care since 1971 and has been a qualified social worker for over 30 years. 28 of those years have been dedicated to working in the area of fostering and adoption as a specialism in both the statutory sector (London Borough of Haringey) and the voluntary sector (Barnardos) where she has managed fostering and adoption services and has been a National Adoption Agency Manager for Barnardos. Mo joined BAAF as Director of Child Placement in June 2006.

Be my parent >>

Human Resources Manager - Hazel Randle

Hazel is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has been with BAAF since March 2002. She has spent most of her career in HR and has held senior management positions in both the public and private sectors. She is also a trustee of another charity.

Director of Publications - Shaila Shah

Shaila is BAAF's Director of Publications with responsibility for commissioning, managing, delivering and marketing BAAF's publications and periodicals programme. She comes from a journalism and publishing background and has worked with BAAF for 13 years, heading a team of 11 editorial, sales and marketing staff.

Publications >>

Director of Policy, Research & Development - John Simmonds

John is a qualified social worker and until his appointment at BAAF was the Programme Coordinator for social work programmes at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He has been involved in consultancy and training to social workers and social work organisations throughout his career. He has published many articles and chapters in books and was the co-editor of 'Direct Work with Children' published by BAAF/Batsford in 1988. He is the adoptive father of two children.

Director of Finance & Administration - George Wood

George is a Chartered Accountant (CA) with blue-chip private sector experience as well as five years in the not for profit sector (as Finance Director or equivalent). He has a broad experience including IT, project management, consultancy, governance and audit. George joined BAAF in March 2001 and is currently responsible for finance, IT and facilities.