As a parent of a child with FASD I know the importance of listening to and raising the voices of all our children with SEND. As Speaker (or civic Mayor) of Hackney a huge focus of my time was committed to sharing stories and pushing for policy change . The FASD event in the town hall was the first of its kind and saw over a hundred stakeholders meet together to hear from National FASD and those of us with lived experience . 

The day galvanised many of us and began  a piece of work assessing the Boroughs support next to national guidelines , looking for any gaps in best practice. As a leader this piece of work will always be one that I am most proud of and grateful to all who took up the challenge .

Hackney now has a Borough wide ongoing strategy for FASD support , a piece of work which won national recognition at the Local Government awards ceremony .

SEND will always be one of the areas I will speak out about, and campaign for ,through the training I offer and the National advocacy work.