What we can achieve by working together

It started with one question and a room full of honest answers. Last Friday, the team meeting at Oak Cottage unfolded a little differently. Amid the hum of a busy children’s home and the soft glow of Christmas decorations, the team paused. Chairs were pulled closer in a circle, voices softened, and I asked one...

Christmas at Spring Meadow is about the limitless possibilities. Christmas at Spring Meadow is still taking shape. It lives, for now, in conversations, careful planning, and the first decorations placed with intention. On the day the service officially opened its doors for visitors, I interviewed the team leaders Chloe, Caitlin, and Mary, alongside Dawn, Deputy...

As the festive season approaches, Progress is celebrating a Christmas marked by generosity, togetherness and community spirit across its services and teams. Throughout December, colleagues across the organisation have come together in meaningful ways, from festive activities at Head Office to individual team gatherings within services. A recent Christmas Jumper Day at Head Office brought...

Prior to our latest Fostering Live with Progress session, an attendee might have expected a simple conversation about fostering. What happened instead was the start of a bigger realisation: fostering is not one fixed route. It is a whole landscape of possibilities shaped around the very different children who need families.  Many people thought fostering...

Every year at the Progress Superstar Awards, there is one moment that feels especially personal. It is the point in the programme when our Managing Director, Claire Rogers, chooses someone whose growth, heart and quiet determination have stood out to her over the year. This is the MD’s Choice Award, and in 2025 it went...

Sometimes, the gentlest transformations happen in the smallest moments. A drive through a quiet countryside, a familiar face at the doorway, or a manager remembering what first made him fall in love with care. 2025 Progress Summer BBQ was winding down when Cosmos and Josh finally found a moment to breathe and to talk to...

Sometimes, the most important kind of support is simply being in a room with people who understand you. Parents arrived at our head office (Progress House) in Wolverhampton last Friday carrying the familiar mix of hope and unspoken resilience that often accompanies families who rely on Stourbridge House’s short breaks. But the atmosphere inside felt...

When Sue talks about the two brothers who came into her life nearly ten years ago, she starts not with paperwork or planning, but with instinct. She remembers meeting the older brother for the first time and sensing something she still cannot quite name. A spark. A warmth. A boldness that made him feel familiar...

Our very first Facebook Live event on fostering took place recently and it quickly became a warm, open and informative session. Michelle, our Fostering Manager, and Kirsty, our Relationship Manager, led the conversation. Together, they walked viewers through the essentials of fostering and answered many of the questions we are often asked by people considering...

In our latest Progress Fostering Live session, we explored a stage of the fostering journey that many people find both important and mysterious. The Form F assessment is a long, thoughtful process that prepares applicants for the realities of caring for a child who may have experienced trauma. To help make sense of it, we...