The CCCF Vision

The Christian Child Care Forum is a grouping of organisations and individuals committed to :-

• promoting a vision of contemporary society in which children and young people have a rightful place,
• responding in love, from common Christian perspectives, to needs of children and families.

By providing a means of sharing experience and insights, and of increasing understanding and co-operation on matters of policy and practice the Forum seeks to sustain and develop the contribution of Christian resources to the well-being of children and young people.

Christian Child Care Forum operates by bringing its constituency of organisations, individuals and families together with issues of concern through its Annual Forum, its Newsletter and various working groups. The result is shared co-operation, shared information and theological reflection so that together we develop, wherever possible, consensus over our respective views. We see deeper theological perspectives; greater incidence of collaboration; positive impacts on the care of children and young people; the greater influence of Christian perspectives on the care of children and young people.

The Christian Child Care Forum traces its roots back over 25 years to what was known as the Christian Child Care Alliance, a network of small or medium-sized Christian child care organisations that enabled them to share news, to influence and form common responses to government policies, and to pray together. In 1991 this developed into the Christian Child Care Network which expanded the possibilities of communication within the Christian child care sector, and of making the Christian public more aware of the existing Christian-based resources. This led to a growing database of over 1,000 Christian organisations and individuals, engaged in fostering, adoption, residential care, counselling, social work, therapy, church-based nurseries and services, and also a telephone Helpline through which people needing help were linked with the most appropriate local Christian resources. Over the years hundreds of requests for information, advice and support were dealt with throughout the UK .

By 1999 the increasing number of calls meant that the Helpline service was transferred to CARE and run under the name, “Childlink”. This left the role of communication, mutual support, and policy formation within the Christian child care sector to the re-named Christian Child Care Forum. Among the achievements of CCCF throughout this period have been the holding of national conferences (and the publication of conference reports) on Counselling of Children and Young people; Telephone Helplines; and the Future of Christian Adoption Agencies; the publication of 27 newsletters; annual gatherings on matters of strategic importance where social policy and the Christian faith intersect. CCCF also facilitated the commissioning and publication of the book Caring for the Whole Child, by Rev. John Bradford, published by The Children’s Society.

In June 2000 the trustees agreed the recommendations of a steering group chaired by Raymond Clarke OBE on the vision, potential, distinctiveness and shape of CCCF. This was set out in Newsletter number 18, Autumn 2000.

CCCF is a charity managed by trustees all of whom are Christians drawn from different denominations, and who have experience in care, social action and community development involving children and young people. The patron from the outset has been Rt. Rev. John B. Taylor, formerly Bishop of St Albans.

The Patron of CCCF

Rt Hon Simon Hughes MP

The Trustees of CCCF

Mrs Mary Dicker

Senior social worker with Fegans Child and Family Care with extensive experience in training and counselling.

Mrs Hilary Elliot
Churches Relations Manager, The Children’s Society

Dr David Evans (Chair)
Freelance organisational and community development consultant.

The Revd Mary Hawes

The National Children’s Adviser for the Church of England

Mrs Kathryn Copsey

Head of CURBS (Children in Urban Situations), a registered charity based in London

Mr Tim Jeffery

CEO Spurgeon’s Child Care

Mr David Pearson
Child care consultant and Director of PCCA Christian Child Care and the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service.

Mr Simon Rodway
Retired Chair of Social Services and Caldecott Commuity

Dr Keith J. White
Director of Mill Grove, a Christian residential community caring for children and vulnerable adults; Member of the Care Standards Tribunal

Dr Josephine-Joy Wright

Consultant clinical psychologist with children and adolescents and joint author and editor of Celebrating Children Course.