Baroness (1910 - 1996)
Lucy Faithfull, Baroness Faithfull of Wolvercote, OBE was a committed and pioneering social worker, and a life-long and passionate campaigner for children and social justice.
Lucy was born in South Africa in 1910 but brought up in England after the death of her father in the First World War. She trained as a Child Care Officer during the 1930s and worked with evacuated children during the Second World War. She was appointed a Children’s Officer in Oxford in 1958, where she worked for some years before retiring as Director of Social Services in 1974.
She became a life peeress in 1976, after writing a report on the Social Services for the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher. She was an active and vociferous member of the House of Lords, opposing many measures which her party supported in relation to the welfare of children. This earned her the nick-name ‘Lady Faithless’ from the Tory whips.
Lady Faithfull made significant contributions to reform of the law on children’s and young people’s welfare, education, the family and criminal justice system, and played a leading role in the passing of the Children Act 1989, and its successful implementation. She was involved in many campaigns and organizations concerned with child welfare including therapeutic residential care communities (such as Caldecott), inter-country adoption, early years’ education, family courts and juvenile justice.
During her career she was vice-president of the National Association of Voluntary Hostels, and of Barnardo's. She was President of the National Children's Bureau and was also active in local Oxford affairs, including road safety, throughout her life.
Perhaps her greatest achievement was the establishment of the Faithfull Foundation, which pioneered new ways of working with families where sexual abuse had taken place, working with both victims and offenders.
Lady Faithfull died in 1996 having never married or had children of her own, but she made a difference, directly or indirectly, to the lives of very many children and families.
