Reappointments and extension of members of the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State has approved the reappointments of Catherine Doran and Mandy Jones, and the extension of tenure of Rohan Sivanandan, as members of Cafcass.
The Secretary of State has approved, as members of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) Board, the reappointment of Catherine Doran and Mandy Jones from 14 May 2025 to 13 May 2026 and extended the tenure of Rohan Sivanandan from 24 December 2024 to 30 June 2025.
Catherine Doran
Catherine is a retired executive director of children services in London following a career in social work, safeguarding and policy development. She has worked in a variety of public sector services and her executive portfolio spanned central and local government, the NHS and more recently the not-for-profit sector. She was a non-executive director at the Disclosure and Barring Service. She sits as a member of the Children’s Advisory Board of the British Board of Film Classifications and on the board of a children’s charity.
Mandy Jones
In 1990 Mandy joined the Civil Service as policy lead for the Prison Service Medical Directorate. The majority of her career has focused on operational delivery, organisational improvement, change management and programme delivery working in the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and the Cabinet Office. She has also worked on international projects. Mandy is currently a full-time foster carer and foster care ambassador based in Kent.
Rohan Sivanandan
Rohan Sivanandan worked as an economist and senior executive in the private sector before moving into the education field. He has held a number of board, non-executive and trustee positions. Currently, Rohan is: a non-executive director for Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust where he chairs the Workforce and Education committee; a lay member of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel which provides advice to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care; an independent member of the Greater London Authority on Mayoral appointments; an investigation panel member for the Nursing and Midwifery Council; a panel chair of NHS Mental Health Act hearings.
All 3 did not declare any political activity.
Cafcass is the statutory body that safeguards and promotes the welfare of children in Family Court proceedings.
Appointments to the Cafcass Board are made by the Secretary of State for Justice. Appointments are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and recruitment processes comply with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.