Sarah Hegarty
Deputy Director
Formerly, Sarah was a Senior Project Manager within the VKPP and led on producing the Exploitation SCR Spotlight Briefing, supporting forces to implement the National Vulnerability Action Plan (NVAP) and has been working to develop evidenced-based impact measures for the NVAP actions and objectives.
Prior to joining the VKPP, Sarah was an Operational Manager at The Children’s Society in London, overseeing services for young people facing a range of needs and experiences such as exploitation, county lines, missing, abuse, neglect, modern slavery and significant trauma. Sarah supported the development of participation services to enable young people to have a voice on decisions and service development. She also ensured that learning from research and safeguarding reviews were embedded into the processes, systems and front-line practice.
Prior to this, Sarah was a practitioner supporting and advocating for young people who experienced multiple vulnerabilities through 1-1, group work and outreach work.
Sarah began her career working within the Probation Service, supporting adults through their community orders and custodial sentences. This early insight into structural inequalities within the criminal justice system has driven Sarah’s passion to improve the systems and support afforded to young people and vulnerable adults.