News
PACT to join forces with Childlink
TWO long-established adoption charities are to join forces to create one of the largest voluntary adoption agencies in the south of England.
19 Aug 2010
Families adopting through Childlink Adoption Society in London are to be transferred to Reading-based Parents And Children Together.
The two organisations will continue to operate under the umbrella of PACT.
The union brings together the two charities to create one organisation that is focussed on finding permanent families for some of the 5,000 children in care.
As of 19 August, Childlink will transfer to PACT its families who are at various stages of the adoption process, as well as historic adoption files.
Faced with the economic challenges that have affected so many small organisations, Childlink decided that the best way to continue to provide a high quality service was to join forces with PACT.
PACT has operated a successful adoption and fostering agency in the Thames Valley since the 1950s and also handles adoption from overseas for most of southern England. The charity celebrates its 100th birthday in 2011.
PACT Director of Adoption and Permanence Services, Satwinder Sandhu said that he hoped to replicate in London what the agency had achieved in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
“I want to reassure all families who are joining PACT from Childlink that we will do everything we can to ensure that the process continues uninterrupted for them.
“We will be looking after the families who are already with Childlink and, in the long term, actively seeking new families across London and beyond who would like to adopt or foster.
“We pride ourselves on our professionalism, our integrity and our personal touch and hope to bring that to all the families that will be joining us in their search for a child or children.”
“I would also like to reassure PACT’s staff and current children and families that the new look organisation will bring even more benefits.”
PACT Chief Executive Jan Fishwick, said Childlink staff will be welcomed to the organisation, and will operate from a new London office, maintaining links with PACT’s work in the Thames Valley.
“PACT’s aim has always been to build and strengthen families. This coming together further endorses our belief that securing children’s futures is at the heart of everything we do.”
Childlink Chair Tom Butler, who himself adopted through the society, said: “Childlink’s trustees are delighted that the service it has been providing for nearly 100 years can be continued through this union with an agency that shares its commitment to the welfare of children and families.
“We appreciate the achievements of Childlink's retiring chief executive, Caroline Hesslegrave, and are pleased that the agency's experienced team of social work practitioners will be able to maintain their involvement with the families who already know them, and to offer a service to other families in the future.”
As well as its work in fostering and adoption PACT also runs community projects across the Thames Valley that help families, children and young people, particularly those who are vulnerable or affected by poverty.