Carolyne Willow – National co-ordinator
A former child protection social worker, Carolyne has been a children’s rights advocate for over 25 years. She became CRAE’s national co-ordinator in 2000. Working with children's rights advocates within and outside of CRAE, she has successfully influenced a wide range of legislation and national and local policy, and supported many child and young people-led campaigns and organisations. She led CRAE's Freedom of Information three-year battle with the Youth Justice Board for full disclosure of restraint methods used in privately-run child prisons.
 
Carolyne has contributed to two national inquiries: in 1997, she consulted young disabled people living away from home as part of Sir William Utting's Children’s Safeguards Review; and she interviewed children in secure training centres in 2005 as part of Lord Carlile’s inquiry into the use of restraint, segregation and strip-searching in child custody. She was a member of the reference group for the Government's discrimination law review and Trevor Phillips’ equalities review, and is now a member of the expert advisory group for the Equality and Human Rights Commission's independent review of the protection and promotion of economic and social rights.

Carolyne is Vice-Chair of the Council of Europe’s Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Child and Youth Participation. She has written many publications about children's rights and developed professional training programmes and educational and campaign materials for children and young people. She was Chair of Children's Rights Officers and Advocates (CROA) for several years and helped set up A National Voice, the organisation run by and for care-experienced young people.

Carolyne has two children, aged 12 and 8.

Policy and public affairs

Carla Garnelas – Head of policy and public affairs (currently on maternity leave)
Carla currently heads up CRAE's public policy advocacy. She joined CRAE in October 2005, initially to strengthen our support to young children's rights activists and then becoming the senior lead on equality and non-discrimination. Carla led CRAE's campaigning around the Equality Act 2010 and Chairs the Young Equals campaign.

Since graduating from Edinburgh University with a degree in Social Anthropology in 2002, Carla has worked in the voluntary sector in London. In 2006, she received an MSc from Birkbeck College in Race and Ethnic Relations, focusing on issues of gender, ethnicity and identity. She worked for a number of years in the Jewish community as a youth worker and informal educator and spent a year in Nairobi, Kenya with VSO working with street children projects. Carla is a trustee of Gulan, a charity that promotes Kurdish arts and culture.

Catherine Hodder – Parliamentary adviser
As CRAE's Parliamentary Adviser, Catherine communicates children's rights issues to members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, so that they can ask questions of the Government, debate particular issues and amend laws to improve children's human rights protection. Before joining CRAE, Catherine worked for a Member of Parliament and completed a Masters degree in human rights. She has been a human rights campaigner since the age of 15.

Legal

Rupinder Binning – Legal director
Rupinder Binning joined CRAE as legal director in August 2011. She runs CRAE’s You’ve got the Right advice service for children and young people; is deveoping training on equality and human rights law for children’s rights advocates; and writing a publication for lawyers on the successful use of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Rupinder co-ordinates CRAE's Strategic Litigation for the Rights of Children Network.

Prior to joining CRAE, Rupinder trained and worked with the Crown Prosecution Service and has also previously worked within the Ministry of Justice and local authorities specialising in Freedom of Information, data protection, privacy and human rights.

Rupinder holds a law degree and a Masters in foreign policy and human rights law. She is really interested in and keen to develop the use of strategic litigation to assist and protect young people.  

CRAE's ‘You've got the right advice’ service is delivered with legal assistance from solicitors Bindmans LLP.

Office management and administration

Sue Marris – Office manager
Sue started at CRAE in 2006 and is responsible for the organisation's finances, office administration and for personnel matters. Her previous jobs include working as an actuarial officer at the Government Actuary's Department and as the statistician at the Arts Council of Great Britain before she moved to work in the charity sector. She then worked as centre manager of a community centre, as tenant liaison officer for a housing association and then as office manager at a drop-in centre for families of children with disabilities. She has a degree in Economics with Econometrics and an MA in Arts Administration.

You can email individual staff using the follow format:
initial and surname@crae.org.uk
Example: hcampbell@crae.org.uk

Volunteers

CRAE's work is supported by policy and legal volunteers who help with our campaigns, research. administration and advice service.  Read our volunteer policy.  CRAE is an equal opportunities employer.

CRAE is not currently recruiting volunteers.  Please email us if you would like to be added to our mailing list to receive information about future volunteering opportunities.