My friend and colleague, Janette Tompkins, who has died aged 59 after suffering from breast cancer, was nationally recognised for the development of family group conferencing in the field of child protection.
Janette was born in Hackney, east London, in 1954. She and her twin sister were adopted at six weeks and brought up in Essex.
Janette went to Colchester School of Art and then studied for a degree in ceramics at North Staffordshire Polytechnic (now Staffordshire University); she was an accomplished and enthusiastic artist. She gained diplomas in art therapy and play therapy and it was through this that she developed her interest in applying her love of art to a therapeutic environment.
In her early career Janette worked with adults with learning disabilities in Essex and Islington, north London. She then gained a postgraduate diploma in social work at South Bank University and joined the Royal Borough of Greenwich as a child protection social worker in 1996.
It was here that she developed the family group conference service that she remained passionate about until her untimely death. Janette contributed hugely to the development of this model within London and across the UK and she ensured children had a voice and that their voice was heard.
She was a founding member of the London Consortium-accredited programme established in 2008 to devise training in the co-ordination of family group conferences. Janette worked hard with families to tackle domestic violence and was a key force in the development of the safeguarding adults service in Greenwich.
Janette had strong political views; as part of her funeral service she requested a reading of Lucy Mangan's personal account of the harsh influence of Margaret Thatcher, published in the Guardian at the time of the former prime minister's death.
Janette met her partner, Mandy Hooper, in 1979 through a drama group for adults with learning disabilities. They became civil partners in 1989; Mandy survives her, as does her twin.