Two Catholic children's agencies to merge

Two Catholic Diocesan child care agencies covering London and the South East have announced their decision to merge. The Catholic Children's Society of Arundel and Brighton, Portsmouth and Southwark and the Catholic Children's Society of Westminster, who have each been in existence for over 100 years, see substantial advantages in combining their resources. Bishop Bernard Longley and Peter Galvin, the Chairs of the two Societies, said in a joint statement: "It is with a tremendous sense of hope and expectancy that we welcome the prospect of becoming a single organisation covering a large part of Southern England. We plan to achieve this within the next 12 months." The two agencies have a combined staff of 225 working in a wide variety of settings including: adoption, fostering, residential child care, school counselling, family centres, child psychotherapy, family therapy, work with Travellers and learning disability projects. Source: WCCS