Welcome to the team, Emily!

Welcome to the team, Emily!

We've recently welcomed Emily to the Calon Cymru family. Emily is an experienced Social Worker who has recently joined our Cardiff team. We asked Emily to tell us a little bit about herself and her background to get to know her better…

Hi everyone, I'm Emily. I have been working in Calon Cymru since September as a Supervising Social Worker at the Cardiff office.

I thought I’d tell you a bit about myself and my Social Work journey. I am 33 years old and have been a qualified Social Worker for 6 years.

My journey began when I was a Support Worker for a young adult with a disability, in this role I worked alongside their Social Worker. From this, I saw how the Social Worker empowered the person and knew this is something I had a passion for. In 2016, I began studying at Cardiff University where I obtained a Master’s degree in Social Work. I completed my placements within Merthyr Tydfil's Fostering and Children Looked After Teams.

As a newly qualified Social Worker, I worked within the Family Support Team in Merthyr Tydfil. Here, I carried cases that were care and support, child protection, assessments led by the Court, as well as seeing cases through to adoption. After 2 years of working within the Child Protection team, I decided that I wanted a change, although knew that I wanted to continue working with children and families.  

In 2020, I began working in the Supporting Change Team, also in Merthyr Tydfil. This team worked intensively with families to create change and to prevent families from being separated. This model of working allowed me to understand family situations and support each family in the most effective way. Another part of my role was to undertake parenting assessments for Children Looked After, and consider rehabilitation plans for them to return home to their families when safe to do so. Additionally, the team completed pre-birth assessments and therapeutic support to parents to be.

After 4 years of being in the team, due to some things changing it was time to think about trying something different, so I began looking for a new job. I knew a few colleagues who had previously worked in the Local Authority and had moved to Calon Cymru Fostering. I chatted to them before applying for the post and they all relayed the positives of working for Calon Cymru, what the job entailed, and the good relationships they have with the foster carers. From their positive feedback, I decided to apply and was very pleased when I was offered the job.

I am enjoying being in post and learning my new role. Everyone at Calon has been warm and welcoming and I look forward to meeting more people in the future.