Foster Family Agency Celebrates New Home In Westville Village

Foster families celebrated a new institutional home Thursday, as the Children’s Community Programs of Connecticut celebrated the opening of a new renovated central facility in the heart of Westville Village.

The nonprofit CCP provides services that support children and families particularly in the area of foster care, parent education and mentoring.

The new location is at 843 Whalley Ave., former home of artist Lesley Roy’s studio.

”It’s a good location, and it’ll be great to be face-to-face with the case managers,” said foster parent Shannon Hinton.

Board member Steven Araujo said that the new facility will help the CCP expand to reach more families. Cicely Pernell-Scott, a therapeutic foster care supervisor, said that the central location of the new building will help the CCP, as many foster families live nearby. Additionally, she said the space is larger than its former home, has parking, and is handicap accessible, all of which will help make the building more accessible to everyone.

“Today is a step in the right direction,” Mayor Justin Elicker said at the ribbon cut. ​“We must prize our children.”

The new building has a special training room for foster parents; the training was outsourced in the past. Senior Executive Assistant Jessica Westbrook said she hopes this will help foster a sense of community among parents, as they’ll be seeing each other and learning together.

CEO Brian Lynch (pictured) said that when a family walks in during a crisis, the CCP’s goal is to make them feel cared about and appreciated. He said he hopes the welcoming design of the new building will help with that.

It took three years to find the right site. Project Manager Leland Torrence (pictured) said the construction crew featured local young tradesmen. He mentioned that the new site is in fact three historic buildings that they joined together, and that it took three years to find the right building for the new site.