Education

The Caring for Carers resource is your guide to providing holistic support for those who are opening their home to children and young people, whether through foster care, kinship care, permanent care, or adoption. It is our desire that none of these families would be on this journey alone and that this resource will help you to …

Let’s take a look at some of the most common foster care myths and misconceptions, concerns and questions. I can’t foster because I’m single. Families come in all shapes and sizes. You can be single, married, later in life and be able to provide a loving home for a child or young person.  I need …

Communicating thoughtfully about Out-of-Home Care. As a leader talking about Out-of-home Care – foster care, kinship care, permanent care or guardianship – from the platform or within your church community, you may bring your own lived experience of the system and those navigating it, or you might be brand new to the space. If it’s …

A trauma-informed approach to working with children and young people. The Homeward Project Trauma-informed Training will equip your Kids and Youth Ministry staff and volunteers with understanding of how and why a child from a “hard place” or with a difficult history may behave differently in a church environment. They will also be equipped with …

Explore your potential next steps towards Foster Care. If you’re wondering if Foster Care is for you, even if you’re still unsure, Foster Care: First Steps is for you. ‘First Steps’ will help deepen your understanding of a faith-based and holistic approach to Foster Care and help you to consider your readiness to pursue it. …

We cannot overemphasise how important it is to have an understanding of trauma if you are opening your home and life to a child through home-based care. There is a high threshold for removal of a child from their home, so to put it simply, they have experienced some hard things. It has been reported …

We’ve compiled a list of books and other foster care resources to help you dig deeper into various aspects of Out-of-Home Care. Click on the links below to navigate the types of resources. Please be aware that several of these books contain very strong themes and content that may be disturbing or triggering. We encourage …

The local Church can help transform Out-of-Home Care in your community. The Discovery Guide will show you how. Full of practical resources, ideas and stories, the Discovery Guide is an online resource that will equip you to build a model of ongoing model of foster carer recruitment and support where every member of your church …

Ensuring your church is a safe environment for all children. We all want our churches to be safe places for everyone, particularly children and young people. A foundation for this is ensuring that you have robust Child Safety Policy and Procedures in place. Your denomination likely has resources available to support you in this area. …

Understanding of some of the science around the brain, trauma, and the power of relationship for healing, helps us shift our approach to children who have been impacted by relational trauma (or complex developmental trauma). Trauma The term trauma is being used more frequently and often in unclear ways. Trauma is not an event (e.g. …

Building a holistic support system for care families. We want carers to have a ‘team’, for the highs and lows and everything in between on the journey of providing home-based care for children and young people. The Wrap-around Teams resource equips a carer’s ‘team’ with understanding and practical plans to provide a range of support …

Kids & Youth Program Guidelines: Considering Out-of-Home Care. When designing and offering programs, churches can support Foster Carers to meet their obligations and provide inclusive environments for young people in Out-of-Home Care. We’ve prepared some guidelines to help you, which include considerations in the following areas: Download the guidelines below. We’ve also created some Communication …