The Diocese of Clifton (UK) is continuing to finance and promote a charity that openly endorses and facilitates the adoption of children by same sex couples, despite the Catholic Church’s formal withdrawal from adoption services in England and Wales on precisely those grounds.
The Catholic Herald can reveal that an optional special collection for Clifton Children’s Society is listed in the Clifton Diocesan Liturgical Diary for Sunday 11 January 2026, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Clifton Children’s Society, known as CCS, originated as the Catholic Children’s Society of the Diocese of Clifton. Its transformation followed the 2007 introduction of the Sexual Orientation Regulations, which required all adoption agencies receiving public funding to place children with same sex couples. The Catholic Church in England and Wales opposed the legislation, arguing that it compelled Catholic agencies to act against conscience and doctrine. When the government refused to grant an exemption, Catholic adoption agencies across the country were forced either to close or to sever formal ties with the Church.
In Clifton, the diocesan agency ceased to be institutionally Catholic and in 2008 was renamed Clifton Children’s Society. Although the charity retained its historic acronym and its roots in the diocese, it no longer operated as a Catholic organisation. Despite this decisive break, the Diocese of Clifton did not withdraw its institutional support. Bishop Declan Lang, then Bishop of Clifton, continued for several years to be named as President of CCS in a non executive honorary capacity, and the charity continued to be promoted through diocesan structures.
CCS remained listed in the diocesan directory, benefited from annual appeals and collections scheduled in the diocesan liturgical diary, and received funds through crib collections and diocesan schools. A snapshot of the newly published 2026 Clifton Diocesan Directory again includes CCS, showing the continuing relationship.
From the outset of its existence as a secular agency, CCS has publicly and enthusiastically promoted adoption by same sex couples and by individuals identifying as LGBTQ+. Its website states: “The Adoption and Children Act 2002 gave LGBTQ+ adopters the same legal rights as heterosexual or cisgender parents. Since then, the number of children adopted by lesbian, gay, bi or trans parents has grown year by year, as greatly promoted and supported by CCS.”
The charity also features online the story of “an LGBTQ+ couple” who have adopted two children through CCS. Elsewhere, it claims that “40 per cent of new CCS adopters are from the LGBTQ+ community”. On another page, CCS states: “If you have transitioned in terms of gender, it would be important that you were established in your gender identity and had a secure sense of self before applying. At CCS, we recognise the strengths and skills that LGBTQ+ adopters bring and positively welcome enquiries from Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender adopters, and over half of our approved adopters in the last year have been people from the LGBTQ+ community.”
