Parents and Children Together (PACT)
Winner – Embracing Digital
Who they are
PACT is one of the leading and most successful adoption charities in the country and has more than 100 years of experience delivering “Outstanding” (Ofsted 2017) adoption services to families across London and the South of England. PACT’s mission of building and strengthening families is achieved through good governance, high quality user-led services, and innovation. In addition to adoption services, PACT helps hundreds of families through inspirational and award-winning community projects in the Thames Valley. These include Alana House, a women’s centre supporting vulnerable women with complex needs, and Bounce Back 4 Kids, a programme for children who have been victims of domestic abuse and their non-perpetrating parents. In November 2018, PACT received the “Charity of the Year” Pride of Reading Award in recognition of the positive impact it has on the lives of the children, parents and individuals it supports.
What they’ve achieved
PACT has established a digital platform to support and empower adoptive parents, Adopter Hub, to delivering the charity’s strategic aim of providing safe and high-quality services. Responding to the needs of its service users, it has utilised a digital platform to provide services 24/7 (outside of traditional business hours), distribute resources digitally and immediately to those in need, and build an online peer-to-peer support system.
Parents were deeply involved in the design process, and PACT has access to a range of qualitative and quantitative management information (MI) and data from the Adopter Hub that enables the charity to continually test, reiterate, refine and improve its programmes. In the first year of launching the Adopter Hub, 95% of survey respondents reported that access to online services made them feel more confident in managing difficult situations. The charity itself has seen a reduction in the demand on its professional social workers’ time as more users take advantage of the online resources.
Why they won
The PACT board clearly demonstrated how trustees embraced the concept of holistic change in digital and have developed a symbiotic relationship between the board and senior management team to deliver this project. From the outset, there was a risk register in place and an experienced board member from the technology sector was appointed to support the senior management team. As a result, the Adopter Hub has evolved to and become fully embedded within an emerging digital culture within the charity. PACT has embarked on a digital strategy, with the board playing a pivotal role and continuing the evolution, identifying a digital trustee, establishing a digital advisory board and developing a digital vision.
