Summer Update from CCS

Hello from everyone at CCS,

We’ve had a busy year so far, and lots more in the diary at CCS. I just wanted to update you about a few of the highlights. We had our Ofsted Inspection in February 2024, and we were delighted with the outcome of Outstanding in all areas. Our favourite quote from an adopter was:

‘I feel like I have an army of advocates from the agency around my child.’

Our 120th Birthday Party is on Sunday 30^th June, and our office is piling high with teapots, fancy dresses and promises of cake deliveries. We really hope to see lots of families, new and old and many staff, supporters and partners will be there. Now, if someone could just book the weather! We hope to launch on this day a leaflet detailing the history of CCS over the last 120 years! Turns out a lot has happened, and a lot has changed.

We know that alongside the support from social workers and therapists, our adoptive families appreciate the opportunity to meet in a social setting, catching up with old friends with space for their children to make connections and have fun. Therefore, we are pleased to continue the successful Family Fun Days with the inaugural single adopters Family Fun Day this weekend. I’m sure many of you have seen that our Summer Holiday Hub programme has been launched with 4 of the 10 events now full – so if you would still like to book, click here.

Adoption Support at CCS has always been a key focus, and we were delighted to recently deliver two new workshops, one on Life Story Work and one on Education. We will be running these again alongside new courses in the Autumn – dates to be announced soon. We are delighted to offer all workshops free of charge to CCS adopters and for a small fee to adopters of other agencies.

Adoption Training

CCS, like all VAAs, continues to focus on finding adopters for priority children. The number of adopters and children is always fluctuating and currently, there is a shortage of adopters and a growing number of children with plans for adoption, but as always, many of these children have complexities that need careful consideration. But at CCS, we believe many adopters with support can provide the therapeutic parenting these children need. Last month, we were excited to launch our services open to prospective adopters who live in Somerset and have welcomed three new families into assessment already.

Lastly, I just wanted to thank all of our families for the amazing roles they have in parenting these unique and wonderful children. We look forward to seeing many of you at our events soon.

Best Wishes,

CEO