Our multi-disciplinary team has a wealth of experience and up-to-date expertise in adoption, kinship and fostering practice and delivers a wide range of training, consultancy, workshops and conferences to assist professionals to develop the knowledge and skills they require when working in this specialist area.
Andrew Burns
Lead Researcher
Andrew joined the team in February 2023 as Lead Researcher to support and develop the research activities of AFKA Scotland. He has held research and teaching roles at the Universities of Glasgow, Stirling, and Edinburgh and has broad areas of interest that sit generally within social justice and qualitative methods.
He joined the team from The University of Stirling where he still works 2 days a week as a Research Fellow conducting research in residential childcare. Previously, Andrew worked for the Local Authority in Glasgow for 20 years, predominantly in frontline drug and alcohol services including roles with a particular focus on children and families. He left that service in 2015 and has worked in different research and teaching posts since then alongside completing his PhD in 2020.
Angie Gillies
Executive Director
Angie is a Social Worker who practiced in family placement services for 25 years across local authority, voluntary and independent sectors. With experience in managing adoption, fostering and kinship care including intensive fostering services and developing specialist remand and treatment foster care services with multi agency partners, Angie has an interest in developing policy and working alongside Managers and Practitioners to improve practice across the sector. Angie took on the role of Executive Director in May 2021.
Mark Hardy
Researcher
Mark joined AFKA Scotland in September 2021 as a Researcher, supporting AFKA’s research capacity across a range of projects and providing research updates and support to practice forums. He is currently leading the Scottish Government-funded project to develop a National Framework for Life Journey Work. Prior to this he led the development of Scotland’s Good Practice in Permanence Guides.
Before joining AFKA, Mark worked for 10 years in local authority social work and 5 years in residential child care. He remains a registered social worker and continues to practice as a safeguarder and in working with prospective adopters. He is a qualified Practice Teacher and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and has taught at several universities. Mark completed a PhD on poverty and social work reports at the University of Edinburgh in 2026, and has published research on a range of topics related to social work writing and recording, siblings, adoption, and kinship care.
Louise Hunter
Trainer Consultant
Louise qualified as a social worker in 2000. She worked in a Local Authority Children and Families team, initially as a Practitioner, and later as a Team Manager. From 2014, Louise worked in Adoption and Fostering as a Practitioner and more recently as an Independent Chair for Adoption and Fostering, and Permanence Panels.
Louise joined the team in March 2026 and is delighted to be part of the AFKA team as a Trainer Consultant, contributing towards improving outcomes for children in Scotland and supporting best practice across the sector.
Sarah Huxtable
Administrative Assistant
Originally from Lincolnshire, Sarah moved to Scotland in 2005 to study at Queen Margaret University. Since completing her degree in 2009, she has held administration roles in a number of charitable organisations (Shaw Trust, Capability Scotland, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and Carnegie Dunfermline Trust). Sarah joined the team in July 2024 and continues to work part time for the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust alongside her role at AFKA Scotland.
Ravinder Kaur
Trainer Consultant
Ravinder is a qualified social worker with over 27 years’ childcare experience in local authorities and latterly in the voluntary sector as one of the founding members of AFKA Scotland. Ravinder is the course leader for two postgraduate courses: Securing Children’s Futures (all aspects of permanence) and Relative Matters (kinship care), both accredited by the University of Strathclyde. Ravinder has many years of experience delivering a range of training and workshops as well as chairing adoption and fostering panels for several agencies. Ravinder has also been an Agency Decision Maker. Additionally, she facilitates the Family Placement Forum, which promotes good practice for family placement social workers.
Heather Moonlight
Trainer Consultant
Heather is a qualified social worker who has practiced in Children & Families and Family Placement Services within local authority settings, both as a social worker and manager. Whilst working within Family Placement, she primarily focused on Kinship Care Services and supported staff and practice development in this area, as well as being a Kinship Care Panel Member.
Heather is very enthusiastic about improving outcomes for children and young people and is experienced in chairing and co-ordinating Child Protection Planning Meetings and Looked After Child Reviews. She is motivated to work alongside managers and practitioners to develop practice across the sector. Heather joined the AFKA team in July 2024 as the Kinship Care Consultant, before accepting an internal transfer to the role of Trainer Consultant in September 2025.
Brenda Reilly
Business Support and Finance Manager
Brenda manages all administrative and business aspects of AFKA Scotland’s work. She is responsible for all matters relating to finance, including reporting to the Board of Trustees and works closely in conjunction with the Executive Director. Brenda co-ordinates the membership services, delivers on-going marketing and communication about AFKA Scotland’s services, and also manages the postgraduate courses and consultancy projects. Brenda previously worked for BAAF for 12 years and is a founding member of AFKA Scotland.
Kate Richardson
Manager/Practitioner, Scotland’s Adoption Register
Kate has been the Manager/Practitioner of Scotland’s Adoption Register since 2020. She qualified as a Social Worker in 2009 following many years working in residential child care and adult mental health. She spent time as a Children and Families practice team social worker for City of Edinburgh Council before moving to the council’s Family Based Care Department to focus on adoption and permanent fostering. Prior to moving to Scotland’s Adoption Register, Kate was the Lead Practitioner for managing the transitions of children from interim placements to their adoptive and permanent fostering homes.
Rebecca Scott
Legal Consultant
Rebecca qualified as a solicitor in 2012 and has extensive experience representing clients across all aspects of family and child law. She became an Accredited Specialist in Child Law with the Law Society of Scotland in 2023.
For 12 years, Rebecca practiced as a Solicitor at Scotland’s only children’s rights Law Centre which specialises in representing children and young people in Children’s Hearings and Sheriff Courts throughout Scotland. She also served as a Safeguarder for four years and was a member of the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s Children’s Hearings Quality Assurance Committee for three years. In her previous role as Head of Legal Services, she was responsible for the delivery of all legal services and for developing and providing training to a wide range of stakeholders.
Rebecca is deeply committed to children’s rights and to promoting collaborative working to improve outcomes for children and young people with experience of the care system. Rebecca joined AFKA as Legal Consultant in January 2026.
Megan Sneddon
Administrative Communications Co-Ordinator, Scotland’s Adoption Register
Megan joined the team in the summer of 2022. After completing her BA with Honours in Marine Biology, she was appointed an internship with Stirling Council as an Open Data Publishing intern, after a year in this role she moved on to a business support role within the Adult Social Care team within Stirling and Clackmannanshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership. During her time in this role, she gained invaluable knowledge regarding social care/ social work procedures including “Adult Support and Protection” and the “Adults with Incapacity Act”. In her two years in the role, she minuted transition meetings for individuals who were moving on from Children and Families to Adult Services. When COVID-19 hit, the role changed and she also became part of the Business Matching Unit in Stirling Council and within this role, developed a new procedure for resourcing respite for young people and adults and helped to resource care at home packages for older adults, individuals with mental illness and those who had a learning disability.