About Valerie Howarth, Baroness Howarth of Breckland
Valerie Georgina Howarth, Baroness Howarth of Breckland, (5 September 1940 – 23 March 2025) was a British social worker, first chief executive of Childline, child and adult welfare advocate and a crossbench member of the House of Lords. Her illustrious career was almost de-railed, midway, in the aftermath of the death of a child on an 'At Risk register' in the statutory London authority where she had led the service, but she was exonerated in the subsequent inquiry, and was able later to diversify her contribution to numerous Third sector organisations and to public policy. Her discovery, through her work at Childline, of the suspected pervasiveness of child abuse, and specifically of child sexual abuse in society - and how it was then being fostered by prison life and burgeoning media - led her to call in 1990 for a Royal Commission to look into the sexual abuse of minors. It took another 25 years before a Public Inquiry, known as the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, was set up by the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, to look into the matter in England and Wales. == Background == Valerie Howarth, the elder daughter of Sheffield steelworker, George and his wife Edith, was born early on during World War II. She had described her background as 'tough', but academic and organisational ability enabled her to attend Abbeydale Girls’ Grammar School where she became head girl. Musing about becoming a probation officer, she completed a diploma in social studies at the University of Leicester in 1962, followed by a certificate in applied social studies in 1963. On graduating, Valerie Howarth was hired by the charitable Family Welfare Association, FWA, to work with disorganised and poverty stricken families in Leicester, where violence was a common hallmark. There she met Barbara Lees, a senior colleague and later a social services training officer, who was to have a defining influence on the young Howarth's life. == Career == After five years with the FWA in the Midlands, Howarth moved to London where in 1968 she gained a certificate in childcare at the then North London Polytechnic, now the University of North London, and joined the London Borough of Lambeth Children's Services Department, in South London, to work in their families unit. This was on the eve of the major reforms being ushered in by the Seebohm Report.
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