What we can achieve by working together

In this end-of-year reflection, Bal Dhanoa MBE, Founder and CEO of Progress, shares what 2025 taught us and how it has shaped the year ahead. As I reflect on 2025, I do so with openness, pride and a deep sense of responsibility to the people who make Progress what it is. It has been a...

When Tadi joined Progress in April 2024, his induction photo captured a bright, easy smile. Months on, that same warmth still greets colleagues and families alike—but it is now paired with a growing confidence and a clear sense of purpose shaped by a year of change, learning, and steady progress. By 2025, Tadi describes the...

In many ways, 2025 at Progress Fostering Service has been defined by the quiet, consistent work of care. Not the kind that announces itself loudly, but the kind that shows up every day. In living rooms and kitchens, at school gates, in meetings that stretch long into the afternoon, and in moments that matter deeply...

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...