Lorraine Pascale to host Social Worker of the Year Awards 2019
The Social Worker of the Year Awards has announced that TV chef and emotional wellness advocate, Lorraine Pascale, who spent some of her early life in foster care, will present the 2019 awards in November.
The Social Work Awards charity was established in 2006 and aims to give recognition to the challenging work of qualified social workers, promote best practice in the profession and improve understanding of the range of work which social workers undertake.
Lorraine, who is also a Patron of the charity, spent some of her early life in care between adoptive and foster families. In 2014 she filmed a documentary about her experiences called ‘Fostering and Me’, to highlight and encourage the importance and benefits of fostering children. Lorraine is a Patron for TACT, the UK’s largest Fostering and Adoption charity.
Lorraine’s cooking shows currently air in over 70 countries worldwide and she has published six cookbooks with sales of over one million in the UK alone. She is currently enjoying a successful career in America.
Speaking ahead of the awards, Lorraine said: “Often the only time we hear about social workers in the media is when bad things happen. The awards are a good reminder to us all to remember the unsung heroes that we don’t hear much positivity about, but who do so much to keep society together when the secure glue of daily life becomes unstuck. I am very proud to support the charity and I look forward to meeting all the finalists at the ceremony in November.”
Peter Hay CBE, Chair of The Social Work Awards charity, said: “Lorraine is the perfect champion for all that the awards stand for and has been hugely supportive since she became a Patron in 2017. We’re thrilled that she will be hosting the awards ceremony, which gives dedicated, committed and passionate social workers the recognition they deserve.”
This year 94 social workers and social work teams in both children’s and adult services have been selected as finalists across 16 different categories.
The full list of finalists can be found here.