Current Board members
As at 21 November 2011, the Families Australia Board comprises the following 12 members, most of whom represent major community sector organisations in their own right:
Prue Warrilow - Australian Community Children's Services (Chairperson)
Bev Orr OAM - Australian Foster Care Association (Deputy Chair)
Anne McLeish OAM - Grandparents Australia (Secretary)
Karen Merange - Child and Family Welfare Association of Australia
Tricia Murray - Child and Family Welfare Association of Australia
Sue Packer AM - Australian Foster Care Association
Jacqui Reed - CREATE Foundation
Simon Schrapel - UnitingCare Australia
Maree Walk - Child and Family Welfare Association of Australia
Sharron Williams - Secretariat of National Aboriginal
and Islander Child Care
Marie Leech - Co-opted
Paul Rajan - Co-opted
Prue Warrilow
Prue is the National Convenor of the Australian Community Children's Services (ACCS) and the NSW ACCS branch National Representative. She represents ACCS on the National Children's Services Forum and the Commonwealth National Quality Framework Stakeholder Reference Group. ACCS' objective is to promote not for profit children's services in Australia. ACCS is the peak representative organisation for all Australian community owned children's services. Prue is the owner and CEO of Families At Work. Prue has been on the Board of Families Australia since October 2004. Prue was elected Chair of Families Australia on 8 November 2010.
Bev Orr OAM
Bev represents the Australian Foster Care Association, a national representative body for foster, relative, kinship, grandparent and therapeutic carers. The membership of the Association is comprised of individual carers and their families, formal and informal carer support groups and associations from throughout Australia. The Association works at a national level to support carers and their families in providing quality care and to improve the outcomes for children and young people living in out of home care. Bev has been involved in the community sector for over 40 years working with children, youth and families, particularly the areas of child protection, out of home care, youth at risk, and family services. She has a wide ranging background that includes management, VET, policy development, research, the private and public sectors and parliamentary environments. She is a member of several national boards, a Ministerial Advisory Council, and other state and national bodies. Bev was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community, particularly children through foster care and child protection in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours.
Anne McLeish OAM
Anne is currently National Director of Grandparents Australia and state director of Grandparents Victoria. Recent national work includes a national survey of grandparents from every state and territory and all walks of life to determine their views about the future for their grandchildren and the conduct of a campaign to highlight the need for better childcare provision as an issue of national significance. Anne was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community through Grandparents Australia in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours.
Dr Sue Packer AM
Sue has been a paediatrician since 1972 and has worked in the ACT as a Community Paediatrician and Paediatrician to Child-at-Risk Health Unit since 1990. This is the medical assessment for children who reside in ACT and surrounding NSW where there are concerns about abuse and neglect. This means working with two child protection systems, two police services and two health services. At CARHU, Sue sees many children because of immediate concerns about abuse and neglect. She also sees children who are currently in foster care as well as children who have been returned to their parents where there are ongoing concerns. Sue regularly reviews a small number of these children and has now followed some children and young people into adulthood. The new knowledge about child development and the influence of environment on brain development, in particular the impact of trauma and neglect, interests her greatly and are increasingly influencing her assessment of children and their care. Because of her concerns about, and interest in, children, Sue also belongs to a number of community and professional organisations, including ISPCAN, BASPCAN, NAPCAN (Board Member), AWCH (Association for Wellbeing of Children in Healthcare), NIFTeY (National Investment for the Early Years) (Board Member), KIDSAFE and DCI (Defence for Children International). This enables Sue to make her assessment of children on a broad knowledge base in relationship to their place in the community. In 1999 Sue was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her “services to child welfare, Paediatrics and the Community”.
Jacqui Reed
Jacqui Reed is the CEO of the CREATE Foundation, a unique national organisation which connects and empowers children and young people in care or who have a care experience with each other and their communities and works to improve the care system through advocacy, information and policy advice.
As CEO since December 2007, Jacqui has led CREATE through a period of considerable change and growth. In this period the national and international profile of CREATE has been strengthened as evidenced by a strong media presence and publication of a major and well-received research report the Report Card: Transitioning from Care.
Jacqui has an extensive (over 20 year) background in child protection, out of home care, family services and community work, has undertaken social research and held several management roles. In her current role, leading a national organisation with a complexity of government and corporate funding sources and a substantial budget, Jacqui has extended her financial and marketing management expertise.
Simon Schrapel
Simon is the current President of the Australian Council of Social Services. Since June 2010, he has been the CEO of UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide. From May 1999 to 2010 Simon held the position of Executive Manager, Family and Community Development, at Anglicare SA, where he was responsible for a broad range of services from child care to out of home care, supported accommodation and housing, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, employment programs, refugee settlement services, financial services, youth services, disability support and mental health services, community development, community legal services, family relationship services and family support amongst other areas. These services are provided from a variety of locations across the Adelaide metropolitan area. Simon has worked in a range of policy, planning and management positions, principally focused on the funding and delivery of services by the non-government community services sector. This has included positions in the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka and Australia in state and local government as well as not for profit organisations.Simon has been a member of the South Australian Council of Social Services (SACOSS) Policy Council since 2000 and the Chairperson of SACOSS since July 2002. He was also the Chair of the Child and Family Welfare Association of Australia from 2001-2009.
Maree Walk
Maree has more than 25 years experience working in the community services area and has a background in social work and the performing arts. She joined The Benevolent Society in 2000 to oversee child and family work and now manages all the programs and operations. She is on the Chair of the Expert Reference Group of the newly formed GoodStart (ABC Children in Care) Coalition, the Chair of Association of Child Welfare Agencies, the NSW peak body of child and family non-government agencies, and is on the board of the national body CAFWAA (Child and Family Welfare Association of Australia). Maree has been involved in a range of initiatives in NSW and Australia, including Keep them Safe, Coalition for Children in Care and numerous advocacy campaigns.
Sharron Williams 
Representing the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, Sharron is a Narungga/Kaurna woman who has been the CEO of the Aboriginal Family Support Services in Adelaide for seven years. Sharron’s experience has included 15 years with Correctional Services through a range of strategic and policy development positions which included being the first Indigenous Public Relations Officer within the Correctional Services System within SA. The Aboriginal Family Support Services Inc (AFSS) was established in 1978 as the SA Aboriginal Child Care Agency Forum Inc (ACCA) in order to have an Aboriginal organisation involved in matters relating to child welfare. Prior to 1978, Aboriginal children were often being removed from their families and communities without the consent or even consultation with extended family members.
Dr Marie Leech
Marie is currently the Principal at Sancta Sophia College at the University of Sydney. Marie has a PhD in Social Policy from the University of Sydney and a Masters of Science and Society from the University of New South Wales. Her business achievements were recognised as a NSW Finalist in the 2005 Telstra Business Women’s Awards.
Marie was appointed to the Federal Government’s Stronger Families and Communities Strategy Partnership, was a member of the Board of Directors of the Australian Institute of Family Studies; and on a number of Committees, including Working Groups of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY). Voluntary work has included the development of strategies to provide access to education for disadvantaged girls and women, especially Aboriginal women.
Previous roles include the position of General Manager, Community Services, at Mission Australia, and Senior Policy Advisor at Uniya, the Jesuit office for social justice research. Prior to her career in social policy and research, Dr Leech taught senior chemistry and biology at Kincoppal Rose Bay and was an educator at TAFE and university levels.
Paul Rajan
Paul is General Manager with responsibility for the Edfutures and Remote Schools Policy and Services Divisions in the Northern Territory Department of Employment Education and Training. He was formerly Director, Community Engagement in the Department of the Chief Minister. Paul has worked in both government and community sector human services agencies since 1975. As Principal Policy Officer and later Assistant Director Young Offender Services in the W.A. Department of Community Services and then as General Manager of Creative LINKS Foundation he has significant experience in policy development and analysis and in the practical application of policy in the development and operation of programs.
Previous Board Members