I had hoped for an article in my local newspaper, the Echo… but I haven’t seen anything yet… So I have included my article below…
An ex-figure skater turned social entrepreneur is hiring the Cool Coast ice rink at the BIC for a home education ice-skating session on Wednesday 11th February 2026, just before the venue closes for the season.
Mother of 5 children and experienced ice skater, Nicky Adolphe, hired out the venue last year to raise funds for her non-profit support service, “The Autonomy Hotline”, a Community Interest Company that provides advice and advocacy for families facing difficult legal challenges in health and social care. The event raised over £600 for the project in February 2025, and saved it from the brink of collapse.
“The BIC were fantastic about us using their venue last year; I owe a huge thank you to them for agreeing to the event. Without the funds that we raised last year, I do believe we would have faced real hardship and may not have survived. I am hoping for a successful event again this year.”
The funds raised will go towards volunteer costs, insurance and office rent, which helps ensure the project can continue running this year. Promoting the event amongst home education families helps ensure the very families that might need it most can access it in times of crisis.
“We have supported a number of home education families, as they often end up facing more challenges than most families because of their way of life. We stand firm for the rights of parents to make choices that are in the best interests of families without intrusion or interference of the state.”
Nicky, and her colleague, Sarah Holdway, have worked tirelessly for the past 5 years supporting clients through various challenges.
“Everything from maternity care and postnatal support, through to elderly care and end of life treatment, if there is a legal or ethical challenge, we will consider the case. The key factor is loss of autonomy, a feeling of being pressured, coerced or choices being curtailed by the layers that emerge. We often take cases that are more complex and outside the remit of other organisations who will only explore one problem at a time. We believe that successful advocacy involves a deeper level of analysis and only then can cases truly resolve.”
The goal of the hotline is to provide a vital emergency number for situations requiring swift resolution. An advisor can help listen to the issues and an advocate can be allocated if there are ongoing social work meetings, court hearings or other professional involvement. Since 2022, the hotline has received over 1200 calls, and has offered nearly 7000 minutes of specialist advice on a shoestring budget. An estimated 350 meetings have been attended to support vulnerable families going through significant difficulties communicating to professionals what they need from the systems that sometimes cause harm. Countless messages are sent between advocates and their clients every month.
“We will also go to court with people who cannot afford solicitors and are not eligible for legal aid” says Nicky, “our judicial system recognises that people can have a helper with them so they are not alone, called a ‘McKenzie Friend’. The client is still a litigant in person and must speak up in front of a judge, but having someone sit with you and help keep track of papers can be a significant help during a highly traumatic experience”.
Some of the hardest cases involve child abuse, child protection and domestic violence, with a surge of calls, particularly locally in the BCP area, coming in over the past 18months.
“Advocacy can make a difference in how cases are seen, and if you can attend meetings with professionals, you may be able to help shift the focus onto the facts of the case rather than the assumptions.”
Child protection matters have been heightened over the past 2 years following the murder of Sara Sharif in 2023. Sara was in the care of her father and step-mother who fatally abused her. The government has indicated steps towards a ‘children’s well-being bill” which is meant to address the matter of children who are known to social services but could be at risk, via tightening up on a register of children who are home educating.
While some welcome the move, Sarah Holdway explains,
“Sara’s death is a tragedy, however, to blame home education is wrong. Sara was known to services since birth, she attended school and had been removed to home educate – the local authority had a duty to follow that up, particularly as she had been known to social care for her whole life. The provision for this type of concern is already there, in many cases it’s not enacted.”
The judges who presided over the decisions of Sara Sharif’s care, Judge Alison Raeside – who sat on most of the hearings – Judge Peter Nathan and Judge Sally Williams, in the family court at Guildford, were heavily scrutinised by the media following the child’s death.
“We have a number of cases where there are clear warnings about a child’s safety” Says Nicky, “some very similar to the heartbreaking case of Sara Sharif, and like her case, often these involve layers of domestic abuse. Yet, when it comes to private law court proceedings, professionals tend to downplay it as ‘parental conflict’. This phrase weakens the impact of the abusive parent and leaves children open to continuing abuse. Mothers are afraid to come forward because no one can be trusted to act on the information. We have a few cases in which children are at risk of abduction, transfer of residency and sexual exploitation. We are a tiny project, and yet, challenging the status quo in a way I don’t see other services able to do.”
Nicky has been struggling to keep the project alive due to restrictions on funding which tend to support local community ventures over national ones. Currently the biggest challenge is recruiting effective volunteers that have the correct balance of life experience and time available to give to clients, while still maintaining a level of emotional neutrality so that a case doesn’t get too difficult to resolve.
“I believe wholeheartedly this work needs to continue, but each month is a struggle. Both Sarah and I have literally sacrificed years of paid work opportunities to defend the rights of families while working unpaid, and I feel like I can’t continue to run unless I can pay staff properly.”
Nicky was a sports coach and children’s activity worker before a life experience dramatically changed her own trajectory. A brush with a social services referral following an illness in one of her children nearly cost her her family nearly 10 years ago.
“I was seen as a danger to my family, the report was wholly untrue. One of my children was briefly taken into care and the others were under scrutiny. It was terrifying. All the years of experience working with children and raising my family was absent from the evidence provided. I had never been to court. I faced people who knew absolutely nothing about me, who made assumptions about my life and the care I gave the children. I was horrified that this was actually happening in our country.”
Luckily, a judge ruled that Nicky and her husband could safely care for the children and the child was returned home. The negative referral was quickly proven false and the case closed within a few months. Following the experience, Nicky realised that she had to find out whether this was common for other parents. She undertook a Masters in Medical ethics and researched the family court for her dissertation.
“Parents who came forward for interviews were going through horrifying situations; cases would last years. Domestic abuse was something I didn’t really know about and the research really opened my eyes to the issue. I did a PTSD score with each interviewee and the scores were dangerously high in nearly every case.”
Advocacy was seen to be vitally needed. Parents needed support to understand legal processes when it came to the “best interests test”, the standard which child protection and safeguarding vulnerable people relies upon. As a result of the research, the fledging service was launched with just a handful of clients needing a listening ear. Today, it has helped around 300 families with support, advice, and information.
“I never expected to get into this work. Now I am involved, I am not giving up. There are too many children suffering, and too many professionals clueless about coercive power and how that interferes with the facts of a case. The costs of care and legal proceedings are astronomical and killing our country. We have a solution. Family advocacy is vital.”
If anyone can help sponsor the project, or if you are interested in volunteering please contact Nicky at The Autonomy Hotline, 0333 772 1227
