Fostering Hope is a Tasmanian, not for profit, organisation whose work comes from the Bible and the teachings of Jesus to ‘visit’ and ‘care for’ orphans and widows, to put the lonely in families, to love the fatherless, to care for children, and to love their neighbours in the communities. We are seeking to find families for children growing up in out of home care that are healing, hopeful, and respectful of everyone on the journey.
Tasmania and Australia are at crisis with not enough foster carers for the need and we are not retaining current carers. Fostering Hope believes Christians are the answer to this crisis, that we could find more than enough families for every child who needs one, that we can support current foster, kinship and informal carers so they can thrive on the journey, that our churches can be safe and welcoming places for all children and families, and we can change outcomes for children growing up in care in Tasmania and Australia.
With the support of AHW we offer a state-wide chaplain service for foster, kinship and informal carers. We also,
- recruit and support carers from
- run a mentoring program for children growing up in care
- host the National Foster Care Sunday campaign
- engage with the out of home care sector to offer hope, solutions, and a positive voice
- offer trauma awareness and child safe training for churches, schools, and community groups.
Vision:
Fostering Hope exists to reflect Christ’s love by supporting at-risk children, and those who care for them.
Mission:
- To offer hope to children by giving them a vision of life beyond their current circumstances.
- To encourage Australian churches to respond to the urgent and God given mission of fostering in their community, and to inspire and invite Christians to open their homes to at-risk children.
- To provide regular and ongoing prayer, support and training to those who are caring for at risk children.
Fostering Hope has four core values that influence all our work. We are Christian, child-focused and believe in the importance of community.
- We are Christian: We are committed to the belief that each of us has been rescued by God, in Christ, and adopted into His family. Having been rescued and adopted we are then encouraged and empowered to live a life which follows Jesus’ example of loving and accepting the vulnerable and powerless, and so we commit ourselves to prayerfully doing the same.
- We are Child-focused: We are committed to finding the best possible home for every child and young person who needs one, where they will find belonging, hope, and an opportunity to thrive. We are committed to listening to the voices of children and young people to influence and shape our practice. We believe that the most vulnerable members of our society are children and young people who do not have protection from their parents. It is for those children and young people that we exist.
- We are Community-building: We are committed to creating a community which provides spiritual and practical support to carers and those for whom they are caring. We do this because caring for vulnerable children requires a larger community than one individual family unit. Further, we are committed to encouraging churches to support foster/kinship families and the children in their care.
- We are other-centred: We are committed to living out our faith not only in what we do but also in how we do it. We seek to emulate Jesus in our manner and internal attitude, as well as our actions, by putting others before ourselves. We are passionate about always behaving with integrity, kindness, respect, humility, and grace with each other, and all those whom we meet.
Resources
www.fosteringhope.net.au
www.fosteringhope.net.au/mentoring
www.fostercaresunday.com
https://fosteringhope.thinkific.com/courses/trauma-awareness-training
