Chief Social Worker for Children and Families and Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel member

Isabelle Trowler CBE

Biography

Isabelle Trowler took up her post as the government’s first Chief Social Worker for Children and Families in September 2013. She is well known for co-designing a practice framework for delivering child and family social work, which has influenced the children’s social care practice system across England.

Isabelle is currently a member of:

She also chairs the National Practice Group with oversight of the development of:

Isabelle was a founder member of the What Work’s Centre for Children’s Social Care, which is now known as Foundations. She has over 30 years’ experience in the children’s sector, and has previously been involved in:

Isabelle was awarded a CBE in the New Years Honours 2024, for services to children’s social care.

Chief Social Worker for Children and Families

The Chief Social Worker for Children and Families works collaboratively with the Chief Social Worker for Adults. Together they work from the Office of the Chief Social Worker to:

  • support and challenge the profession to ensure that children and adults get the best possible help from social workers
  • provide independent expert advice to ministers on social work reform, and the contribution of social work and social workers to policy implementation more generally
  • provide leadership and work with key leaders in the profession and wider sector to drive forward the improvement and reform programme for social work
  • challenge weak practice to achieve decisive improvements in the quality of social work
  • provide leadership to the network of principal social workers

Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel member

Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel