About Us

Conversations between foster carers?

Foster care is a deeply personal activity. DoCS, the agency you foster through and excellent other support organizations like the various associations (both federal and state) provide information and support.  For many people that information and support is readily accessible and gives them what they need. For many others attending face to face events is not so easy. The good news is that technology can now provide the opportunity to take some of that interaction on-line.  

Who are we?

We are experienced carers. We are independent. We have no affiliation with any agency or support networks. Our aim is to facilitate conversations that provide you with helpful information free of bias.  

So why set up this site?

1. We are passionate about foster care and its importance to children. We believe that ensuring foster children’s safety, meeting their basic needs and affording them the same opportunities as other children, is valuable work. Foster care is something that each of us can do. 
2. Despite its challenges, we find providing care a deeply satisfying experience. The chance to love, learn and grow with a child is one of life’s gifts and foster care is something we approach with humility and gratitude. Don’t get us wrong, it also tries our patience and requires enormous amounts of energy, but it’s worth it.
3. We are committed to helping carers by sharing experiences among the carer community. We believe that the web gives us a wonderful opportunity to have these conversations in a way and at a time that works for carers.  Life is about sharing what you’ve learned.
4. We believe there is a useful conversation to be had between carers and agencies, independently of the children in your care. Agencies are called on to place children in a caring and safe environment where their family is unable to provide for them, and act as a conduit between government, the children and their families and foster carers. Agencies carry a lot of responsibility and are given a lot of authority. They can either be outstanding in their understanding and support, or add to the foster carer’s burden. We believe that understanding carers’ experience with agencies and sharing that constructively with agencies to enhance the quality of those interactions can be of benefit to all concerned.
5. We believe we can supplement existing support networks by pointing carers to useful training, legislative developments and policy changes, books, overseas resources and information.

Thoughtful, constructive interaction

Given the subject matter, content in a number of areas, like the agency feedback, will be moderated before it is published. It is important that we protect individuals involved.  We want to encourage constructive feedback. If that feedback can be used to inform decisions and improve how things operate, we’ve helped. We do not intend to become a forum to denigrate any agency. Our aim is to improve carer education and knowledge.  

What kind of conversations might we have?

Here are some questions that have come up along our journey. Questions we wanted answers to from other carers or some independent experts.

• What are the options for access and who can be there to support me?
• How flexible can I expect the system to be?
• Who determines the routine?  Should my social worker set the rules or is it by mutual agreement?
• What do I do if I don’t agree with the way things are going? Do I have a right of recourse or reply?
• How do I handle childcare?
• How do I sort out financial support?
• What happens if I can’t attend the agency provided support meetings?
• What happens when the best interests of my foster child seem at odds with those of the birth family or vice versa? 
• How do you juggle the needs of DoCS and your social worker, while holding down a full time job? 
• I feel administration weary, is that normal? 
• Of course my social worker needs to check how things are going, but what is a normal level of interaction and oversight? 
• Can my broader family and support network help out where needed and who do I need to inform?
• My foster child is starting school, how do I help them communicate their unique family relationships?
• Who needs to know about our foster care arrangements - the school, the dentist, my neighbour?
• What are the arrangements for taking holidays?
• How do I find out about my foster child’s history?  Is there medical or other important information that I need to know and how do I get access to that?
• What’s the best approach when my foster child asks questions about their past?
• What records of my foster child’s time with me do I need to keep?
• What are the legal rules and guidelines that I need to know about?
• What are the changes that have impacted the foster care area, such as the amendments to the Adoption Act? What do they mean for my foster child?
• Where do I go for more information?