We’re excited to share our achievements and impact over the past year. 2024 has been a remarkable year as we celebrated our amazing adoptive families, our 120th anniversary, our official name change to CCS Adoption, and our 5th consecutive “Outstanding” rating from Ofsted since 2010, thanks to the dedication of the CCS team. Additionally, we’ve outlined our nine strategic aims in our Strategic Plan 2024-2027, focusing on development and future sustainability.
Recruiting and Training Adopters to Meet the Needs of Adopted Children
CCS Adoption recruits adoptive families for priority children: sibling groups, older children, ethnic minorities, and those with additional needs. We proudly recruit adopters from diverse backgrounds. Around 3,000 children are adopted from care in England each year. The average age at adoption is 3 years and 4 months, and children wait an average of 1 year and 7 months between entering care and being adopted. These crucial early years are marked by loss and trauma, with many having faced neglect, abuse, or prenatal drug or alcohol exposure.
In the last five years, CCS Adoption has placed 156 children.
In 2023/24 we…
- saw 227 households make their first enquiry about adoption
- held 12 information events with 138 households attending
- approved 8 new families to adopt
- held 24 preparation courses for potential adopters
- found new homes with adoptive families for 22 children, all aged between 1 and 9 years old.
Reducing the Impact of Early Trauma
Many adopted children come from backgrounds of neglect, abuse, or loss, affecting their ability to trust and form attachments. Strong, stable relationships with adoptive parents help children feel safe, valued, and loved, supporting their well-being.
At CCS Adoption, we offer lifelong adoption support through our Social Work Service, Therapy Service, and Social Events. This year, 183 families benefitted from accessing Adoption Support through specialist events and activities.
“Adopters report many examples of how the excellent support from the agency has prevented disruption and helped to build the adoptive families’ resilience through difficulties and challenges.” – Ofsted Report 2024
Adoptees Understand their Life Journey
Many adopted children struggle with questions about their past, particularly if they have experienced multiple placements, neglect, or abuse before adoption. Helping children understand their life story in a truthful and supportive way is crucial for their emotional development and sense of identity.
Children who are supported in understanding their adoption identity and trauma tend to have higher self-esteem and a stronger sense of belonging. CCS Adoption is dedicated to getting the right services to adopters and adoptees and offering timely access to a wider range of therapy, assessments and specialist activities to explore their childhood experiences.
In 2023/24…
- 12 clinical assessments by Clinical Psychologists
- 41 consultations were completed by Clinical Psychologists
- 40 therapy packages
- 101 children accessed our therapeutic services
- 12 adoptees accessed their birth records
- 41 parents participated in the therapeutic Hearts and Minds course
Specialist Activities Supporting Children’s Development
Facilitating Peer Support
Developing relationships with peers who share similar experiences can create a network of support for both adoptive parents and children. For children, peer relationships are vital in helping them develop a sense of identity and belonging. For parents, they can create a lifelong support network that offers opportunities to share challenges and strategies that can help them navigate complex parenting issues. Our peer support groups offered this year:
“The CCS Tots group is essential for families in the early days of an adoption placement, at such an incredibly stressful and challenging time, it’s so reassuring to know there are families who are going through the same thing and staff who understand the daily challenges you’re facing whilst offering such excellent advice.” – Tots Parent
Lifelong Support
Our aim is that CCS parents are skilled and confident in parenting their adoptive children and can meet their changing needs, forever.
- Training sessions or workshops for adopters and prospective adopters.
- Our Social workers and Assistant Social Workers are actively supporting families at any time.
Training Sessions in 2023/24
“Theraplay was very interesting, some of the tips and advice given during this session on how to use play to connect with our children, and to help work through difficult situations was really helpful. I was really impressed to hear that the 2nd training day for Therapeutic Parenting held after matching, and is specifically catered to the child we’d be adopting. That’s an amazing thing to offer.” – Adoptive Parent
- 4 Stage 1 Preparation Courses
- 3 Stage 2 Preparation Courses
- 5 Friends and Family Workshops
- 5 Safer Care evening sessions
- 3 Therapeutic Parent (part 1 & 2) Training days
- 2 Linking and Matching workshops
- 2 Exploring Your Future Family workshops
- CATCH is an online resource for adoptive parents. We provided 30 licenses to parents this year.

Explore Adoption
Want to find out more about adoption, the children and us? Then book yourself a place at one of our information events, hear from adopters and talk with our team.
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