Devon County Council joins CATCH

This partnership with CATCH (Children and Trauma Community Hub) aligns with Devon’s strategic mission to ensure children remain within their family networks whenever possible, providing “stable homes built on love”. By choosing CATCH, Devon is ensuring that the practitioners and carers on the frontline have immediate access to the specialist tools and knowledge required to support children who have experienced significant developmental trauma.

A progressive approach to family-based permanence
Devon’s commitment to kinship care is underpinned by the principle that a child’s best interests are usually served within their extended family. The authority has recently overhauled its support structures, including:

• Financial investment: Aligning kinship and fostering allowances with the National Minimum Allowance to ensure financial stability for placements.
• Specialised oversight: Establishing a dedicated Kinship Assessment Service with three specialist teams to evaluate and support family networks.
• Therapeutic focus: Training carers in the PACE model (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, and Empathy) to facilitate secure attachments and healing.
• Strategic growth: Tripling investment in certain areas and establishing a £2 million fostering and kinship offer to be fully implemented by 2026/27.

Shared missions and synergy

The decision to integrate CATCH into the Devon “local offer” reflects a shared dedication to improving the lives of children through leading-edge information.

Herdaypal Johal, Service Manager – Kinship at Devon County Council said:

‘We’re really excited to be partnering with CATCH to strengthen the support we offer to our kinship carers. The range of resources, webinars, and training available through the CATCH platform opens up so many new opportunities to help carers feel confident, informed, and well equipped in their role.

Children thrive when they can remain within their family and connected networks, and this partnership adds another valuable strand to the wraparound support we provide. We’re delighted to welcome CATCH as a key part of our commitment to ensuring kinship carers have everything, they need to support the children in their care’.

Ray Vernon, Digital Partnership Executive at Parents And Children Together (PACT)—the creator and manager of CATCH—welcomed the partnership:

“It has been clear from the outset that Devon County Council is deeply interested in providing in-depth and varied information to their kinship carers. I could tell from the first conversation with Herdaypal Johan, Kinship Service Manager, that there is an obvious synergy between both our missions. We are united in providing leading-edge trauma-informed information to improve the lives of children and support those who care for them.”

Through this collaboration, Devon’s kinship carers now have round-the-clock access to expert-led webinars, evidence-based resources, and a supportive community, ensuring that the transition to permanent family arrangements is met with the highest level of professional and emotional support.