We recently sat down with Katie Aldcroft, our Family Account Manager to learn more about her role and how she can help find the right expert for your case.

Hi Katie, can you tell us a little bit about your role at Foresight?

My role within Foresight is Family Account Manager. I deal with family cases, these tend to be mostly care proceedings as well as non-accidental injuries to children. With so many experts on the panel at Foresight I can deal with many different types of experts each day including Paediatricians, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Paediatric Radiologists and many more.

In addition to working with our already established panel, my role includes finding suitable experts for new cases. Over the years I have built great relationships with our experts, so my knowledge provides me with understanding of each type of report and I’m able to provide timescales and costs very quickly, which really benefits our clients. And as such, have I have built strong trusted relationships with our instructing solicitors, the strength of the expert panel within Foresight enables me to be extremely efficient with their requests.  

What led you to your role at Foresight?

When I took the job at Foresight, I had never heard of expert witness reports and found the job interesting as it was something completely new to me.

In the past I’ve worked as a Customer Service Manager in various industries including finance and Utilities, the skills from these roles has really provided a spring board and enabled me to tailor and hone these skills as customer service is at the heart of Foresight.

I’ve been in this role for more than 3 years now, so I’ve gained a really strong understanding of the cases we deal with, the reports required and the needs of our customers.

The last 12 months have been, a bit strange to say the least, and the pandemic has totally changed the way experts work and give evidence in court. How have these changes effected your role and how you work with the experts?

Since the Pandemic, providing face to face assessments became difficult, but at Foresight we adapted quickly with the use of secure digital platforms which helped ensure we could continue to provide our industry renowned services.

We have also noticed an increase in enquiries over the last twelve months, we have had some of our busiest periods during the pandemic, but we are also aware that this is due to more children and families becoming increasingly vulnerable due to the national lockdowns. Whilst this is incredibly sad it’s nice to know that our customers trust us to help them with these extremely sensitive cases.

We have had to learn new ways to work, and our experts have continued to work hard throughout this period which has allowed us to continue to provide the same great level of service for our clients.

So you say you’ve seen an increase in enquiries, is there any particular type of case you’re seeing more of?

We have seen a general increase for medical reports on possible non accidental injury cases, this could be due to cases not being identified in school as they would be normally. The various lockdowns have meant families are spending more time together, and this has a huge impact on these cases. We have also seen a large increase in requests for Psychologist and Psychiatrist assessments due to people struggling with mental health issues due to lockdown.

Our extensive panel of experts across the country has allowed us to be well equipped to deal with the increase in these cases without being detrimental to quality.

As we start to work our way out of lockdown, and the country starts to open again, what are you expecting in the upcoming months?

I feel over the coming months we will see more cases than ever coming though as there is a backlog within the courts. We also anticipate another increase now children are returning to school, as this is where most concerns are identified and passed to local authorities to investigate.

It sounds like your day to day is very varied, speaking to so many different types of experts in a variety of fields, but what do you enjoy most about your role?

I really enjoy helping others, when you realise you have played a part in helping families either get the help they need or just helping to ensure the child can receive the care they need going forward is very rewarding. I also enjoy building relationships with solicitors and experts, I learn so much from them and this provides valuable insight and knowledge to ensure I can offer the best service all round.

If you have a family case you’d like to speak to Katie about, please get in touch today at enquiries@foresight.expert to source the ideal expert witness or to answer any queries you may have.