The Children's Trust

The Children's Trust is the UK's leading charity for children with brain injury.

The Children's Trust is a UK registered charity, number 288018. The Children's Trust runs a range of specialist care, education and therapy services for children and young people from across the UK, including the UK's largest rehabilitation centre for children with acquired brain injury (ABI) and is based at Tadworth Court, Tadworth, Surrey within the M25 motorway.

The Children's Trust's celebrity Ambassadors are David Walliams, Richard Hammond, Phil Tufnell, Joely Richardson, Adam Hills, Jenni Falconer, Amanda Burton, Elaine Paige, Holly Valance, Sophia Warner and Nicholas Owen.

The Children's Trust launched an online support centre in 2012 for families of children affected by acquired brain injury. This website offers practical advice and information about a condition that is often misunderstood. There is also an online forum giving families the opportunity to share their stories and experiences.

In May 2022 a coroner criticised The Children's Trust over the death of a five-year-old boy its care. An inquest concluded Connor Wellsted died in 2017 following "entrapment by a loose cot bumper" at the Children's Trust facility in Tadworth, Surrey. Coroner Dr Karen Henderson also criticised the trust for what she said was a "lack of transparency" over the death. Two years later, on 14th October 2024 and following the death of another child, Mia Gauci-Lamport, the same coroner raised concerns in relation to the lack of appropriate monitoring of the child over-night, the medical care she received and senior management at the Trust. She highlighted that the management issues had been raised previously in her report into the death of Connor Wellsted.

In December 2024, England's Health Ombudsman, Karen Hilsenrath raised concerns publicly that the regulatory body, The Care Quality Commission, had not properly investigated allegations of a 'cover-up' by The Children's Trust in the circumstances of the death of the child in 2017. She highlighted the coroner's statement in her report that The Trust “have not acknowledged there was a lack of transparency and openness into how [the boy] died or that the trust did not properly investigate his death or inform the relevant statutory bodies of the circumstances of his death”. This has raised further concerns into the effectiveness of the regulator, the CQC who are responsible for regulating The Children's Trust and other care settings.