Seven Hills affiliates with adoption agency

Courtesy David Jordan, president of the Seven Hills Foundation.

Write a Comment

By Zachary Comeau

A 168-year-old Worcester adoption and mental health services agency has officially become the 12th affiliate of human services organization Seven Hills Foundation.

In a press release Thursday, Worcester-based Seven Hills announced the partnership with Children’s Friend, which first began operating in 1849, according to the agency’s website.

Children’s Friend will continue to serve Central Massachusetts as it has been for decades, said Seven Hills President David Jordan.

“The partnership we now share together will only further that legacy,” he said, in a press release.

Seven Hills is a much larger organization than Children's Friend, providing services to 28,000 children, adults and seniors while Children's Friend provides services to 1,000 children and their families, according the press release. Seven Hills had revenues of $195 million in fiscal 2016 while Children's Friend had $8 million.

Seven Hills' press release said the affiliation will build stronger programs at each organization and allow the groups to share and benefit from each other’s clinical expertise.

Former Children’s Friend CEO Karen Ludington will now become the vice president of the affiliate of Seven Hills, according to the press release.

“This connection with Seven Hills Foundation guarantees that Children’s Friend will have the financial stability, not only to continue providing our current services to children and families in Central Massachusetts for years to come, but also to expand into other areas of need,” Ludington said, in the press release.