Adoption charity, Parents and Children Together (PACT), launches new service in Brighton & Hove to help gays and lesbians adopt a child.
Funded by the Department for Education (DfE), the service focuses on the LGBT community in Brighton and Hove and is intended to find loving and secure families for 4,550 children in care.
PACT adopters Jacek Kacprzak and Andrzej Kubinski, who have adopted two little boys, were on hand to cut the ribbon and open the new office along with PACT CEO Jan Fishwick.
Jan said: “This is a very proud day for PACT. We are proud of our excellent reputation amongst the LGBT community and it’s thanks to a grant from the DfE that we have been able to extend our services to the Sussex area in order to attract much-needed loving families for the 4,550 children in care in the UK today.
“PACT is delivering this new service in partnership with New Family Social, a UK network for LGBT adoptive and foster parents.
“There are many people in the LGBT community who would like a family, and PACT wants to engage with those people to bust the myths associated with adoption, and demystify the adoption process.
“We have staff and volunteers who understand the common barriers that might prevent prospective adopters from the LGBT community from enquiring.”
This is PACT’s fifth location, the others being in Reading, Oxford, Pimlico (London) and Old Street (London).
An Ofsted inspection in January rated PACT’s adoption service as outstanding across all four assessed areas. PACT’s theraputic service FACTs, which support adoptive and foster families through difficult times, was awarded Voluntary Adoption Service of the Year in the BAAF National Adoption Awards in 2013.
PACT is a key player in the field of adoption and fostering and helps find ‘forever families’ for the estimated 6,000 children requiring a new permanent home every year.
PACT will be hosting adoption information events, interviewing prospective adopters and running workshops to approve people waiting to adopt, at its new offices at Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton.
The first event will be on Wednesday, October 1, from 6.30pm to 8pm. A second event is planned for Monday, November 24 from 6.30pm to 8pm
Nancy Platts the parliamentary Labour candidate for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven attended the opening ceremony.
She said: “I welcome PACT setting up an office in Brighton to support LGBT people who want to foster or adopt. It was touching to hear the stories of those who have successfully adopted and I hope that as a result of this very positive initiative, many more children will find their forever families.”
For more information about PACT, CLICK HERE:
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