Congratulations to 2020 CCA Annual Award Recipient: Sandra M. Fine, LCSW!

CCA is very pleased to be presenting the 2020 CCA Annual Award to Sandra M. Fine, LCSW!

Many of you may have worked with Sandra during her almost 30 years of adoption service in CT and she along with her staff have almost single-handedly covered the majority of the private agency adoptions for Southeastern CT during that period. Sandra is being recognized by CCA for her lifelong commitment to the field of adoption, her ethical and collaborative spirit, and for the positive and immeasurable difference that her work has made in the lives of hundreds of children and their families in achieving permanency!

After graduating from Wellesley College in 1987 and then onto Simmons College for her MSW, Sandra became the Adoption Program Coordinator at Catholic Charities in Norwich from 1991 to 1998. She then joined CARA/CT Adoption & Family Services in New London in 1998 and became their Clinical and later Executive Director in 2005. Sandra supervised and trained a team of social workers and expanded the agency to provide services to all members of the adoption triad for domestic, interstate and international adoptions. She also developed a program to service children in CT DCF foster care in need of permanency. In 2013, Sandra started the adoption program at Waterford Country School where she remained until the program closed in 2019 when she became the CT Site Director for Alliance for Children in Norwich.

In addition to her various agency directorship positions, Sandra also took a leadership role in the CT Collaboration of Private Adoption Agencies and with CCA, most recently serving as Vice-President and as CCA’s Liaison with the CT Probate Court. She was instrumental in advocating for long overdue changes to CT’s Identified Adoption Regulations and chaired a CCA workgroup with DCF. Thanks to Sandra’s persistence, we are now closer to seeing that happen so stay tuned! In 2019, Sandra was honored with an Angels in Adoption National Award.  

While Sandra is now winding down her adoption work at Alliance for Children, CCA wishes her the very best as she embarks on a new career as a school-based health center therapist in New London. As we know, sometimes our schools have been a difficult place for our adopted and foster children and their families. CCA is most confident that Sandra’s adoption and clinical competencies matched by her compassion will certainly be a tremendous asset for these students, their families and other school providers. Congratulations Sandra!!!!