Responsible Individual, ADM & Director
I am the Director of Beams Foster Care, establishing the fostering agency in 2013, I play an active daily part in Beams. I am the Responsible Individual and Agency Decision Maker. I qualified in 2005 and my social work career has been within areas where the focus is for children looked after.
I started my social work career for the local authority, having roles as social worker, assistant team manager and manager of Looked After Children teams.
I have a passion for ensuring children in foster care receive a high standard of care and can achieve their full potential, establishing Beams Foster Care enables me to put this into practice, working with the team at Beams to enable this to become a reality.
Registered Manager
I am the Registered Manager at Beams Foster Care, and recently joined the Team in February 2024. Prior to Beams, I worked as a Team Manager within a Child In Care Team for 5 years, and before that worked as an Assistant Team Manager, Practice Consultant and Senior Social Worker within a Local Authority, my career as a Social Worker having started in 2014.
I have always felt very passionate about supporting children and families and my focus for the past 5 years has been to ensure that children in foster care receive a high standard of care conducive to their individual need and circumstances.
I was very excited to join the team at Beams and whilst I have lots of different jobs that I do here, my priority is to make sure that our foster carers have everything they need to support the children and young people in their care, so that they can thrive and reach their full potential
When I’m not working I like to spend time with my children, go for long walks and have a good catch up with friends
Senior Supervising Social Worker
I have been employed by Beams since July 2023. My role includes recruitment, undertaking Form F Assessments, supervising foster carers, delivering training and vice chairing annual reviews. Previous to Beams, I worked for the Local Authority for 8 years, as a Social Worker, Practice Consultant and Team Manager of a Child In Care Team.
In my spare time, I enjoy making memories with my family, reading, swimming and going abroad!
Senior Supervising Social Worker
I have been employed by Beams as a Senior Social Worker since March 2022. Qualifying in 2014, I have devoted my social work career to fostering, post adoption and post SGO services. Prior to my current role, I worked for 8 years as an Experienced Social Worker within fostering and post adoption services at a Local Authority. My role with Beams includes facilitating training, organising wellbeing events for foster carers, reviewing policies and procedures and chairing Foster carers annual reviews.
Senior Supervising Social Worker
I qualified as a social worker in 2019 and have worked in the Looked After Children’s Team for 2 local authorities. I joined Beams in July 2021 as a Supervising Social Worker. My roles include supervising foster carers, undertaking Form F Assessments for potential carers, sitting on the fostering panel as a non-independent member, delivering the Skills to Foster and other training to carers. I enjoy working as part of a small, supportive team and supporting our carers in being able to provide a high standard of care to vulnerable children, helping them to achieve to their best abilities.
Child & Family Practitioner
Hi I’m Dawn, my role is to ensure that children and young people in foster care have their voices heard. Each year I meet with them to gather their thoughts and feelings about how things are going with their foster carers and this forms part of the foster carers’ annual review. Ensuring that their views matter is an important part of my work.
I organise and run a range of activities throughout the year, including Creative Club, sensory garden sessions, summer days out and Christmas pantomime trips. I enjoy bringing people together to have fun, try new things and create positive memories.
At times, I work more closely with children, young people and foster carers who may need a little extra support. This involves spending more time together to help things feel more settled and positive.
My work also includes involvement in meetings such as fostering panel and supporting young people on their Journey to Independence, including Pathway and Life Skills. I aim to help them build confidence and develop the skills they need as they grow older.
I am someone who listens without judgement and aim to create a sense of safety, respect and understanding in all my interactions. I value getting to know foster carers and the children they care for to find out what makes them who they are.
Student Social Worker
I joined Beams in September 2020 and have worked in a few different roles since then. I first started as a Business and Panel Administrator before beginning my Social Work degree in 2023. I am now in my third and final year, preparing to move into my ASYE year. In my current role, I carry out supervisory tasks with foster carers, contributing to Form F assessments for prospective carers, help to facilitate training sessions, workshops, and support groups, and sit on the fostering panel as a non‑independent member. I enjoy being part of a small, supportive team.
Office Manager
My name is Emily Sims, I have over 20 years’ experience in the caring profession and more recently in childcare.
I have been working at Beams for over 4 years taking on the finance role, duty work and the general management of the office. During the last couple of years in order to support my finance role within Beams I have completed an AAT certificate in accounting.
In my spare time I like spending time with my daughter and family and taking our dog Ruby out for walks.
Supervising Social Worker
I joined Beams in August 2025 as a Supervising Social Worker. Before that, I spent seven years in London working as a Substance Misuse Recovery Worker supporting parents affected by drug and alcohol dependency in both community and prison settings. I later returned home to Norfolk, where I worked for six years in Child Protection with the local authority, first as an Assistant Practitioner and Intensive Specialist Support Worker, before training and qualifying as a Social Worker.
I’m passionate about working with children and young people and love being part of a team that supports foster carers to provide the best possible care to help children thrive in safe, stable placements. In my role, I’m involved in recruiting and assessing foster carers, completing Form F assessments, supervising and supporting carers, and delivering training to help them feel confident and equipped in their role.
Panel Administrator
After many years working in admin roles, I joined Beams in April 2025 as Panel Administrator. I coordinate the admin for our foster carers, and take minutes at Panel meetings and annual reviews, along with a variety of office duties. I enjoy being part of the Beams team, and hope that my role supports the staff members, to help them support the foster carers and children.