Foster Care Pioneer Recognised At Asian Women Of Achievement Awards | FCA News

May 21, 2008

Afshan Ahmad from Bromsgrove who works for the UK’s leading independent foster care agency, Foster Care Associates (FCA) was celebrating last night (May 20) when she was announced a winner in the Asian Women of Achievement Awards.

The event which took place at the London Hilton, Park Lane, included a shortlist of 44 candidates deemed ‘the best yet’ by the Awards’ sponsors Lloyds TSB.

Afshan is a pioneer and author in the field of “life story work”. Working with children in foster care, her work has helped to give hundreds of children a sense of their own personal history.

Afshan started her social work career in Hertfordshire in 1989 and worked in a variety of settings including the St. Christopher’s Fellowship independence preparation project, preparing 16-18 year old young people for leaving care. She also spent time as an Asian project worker with the Amazon project, a Barnardos initiative, providing counselling and support to young women aged 12-25 who had experienced sexual abuse. This involved forming links in the community and encouraging Asian young women to use the service.

Afshan joined FCA in 1997 as a child and young person support worker. Even at this time it was clear to see that she had the understanding and drive to do well in her work. She went on to qualify as a social worker in 1998 and became FCA’s first life story work co-ordinator, based in the Midland Region in 2002. This developed into a company-wide role in 2003.

Co-founded by Pinky Lilani OBE and organised by Real Business magazine, the Asian Women of Achievement Awards is an inspirational event to recognise all levels of achievement made by Asian women in the UK – whether professional or personal - within the commercial, professional, artistic and humanitarian sectors.