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Speaker 1: Now over six hundred people are in Darwin right now

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Speaker 1: attending the International and National Foster Care Conference. Now, the

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Speaker 1: event's actually coinciding with the fortieth anniversary as well of

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Speaker 1: International Foster Care Organization and the tenth anniversary of Foster

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Speaker 1: and Kinship Cares Association here in the Northern Territory. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line to tell us a little

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Speaker 1: bit more about what is actually happening is the CEO

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Speaker 1: of the Foster Care and Kinship Association, Cheryl Smith.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Cheryl.

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Speaker 3: Hi Katie, how are you?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, really well, Thanks so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: My pleasure.

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Speaker 2: Now, firstly, who is here for the conference?

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Speaker 1: More than six hundred people, It sounds like a lot

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Speaker 1: of people are here for it.

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Speaker 3: It is an amazing turnout for Darwin, particularly post COVID.

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Speaker 3: It's one of the first face to face conferences that

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Speaker 3: we've had the opportunity to attend, which is really amazing

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Speaker 3: that we're hoping it here in Darwin, where we've got

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Speaker 3: eighty four percent of all of the delegates come out

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Speaker 3: from international or from around Australia, so that's just amazing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, right, that is a huge number.

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Speaker 1: And what locations are you talking about when you say

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Speaker 1: that they are coming from other states and places around

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Speaker 1: the world.

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Speaker 3: So obviously for the national conference, every state and jurisdiction

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Speaker 3: has a peak both similar to ourselves, and they bring

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Speaker 3: all of their delegations from those states and their foster

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Speaker 3: and kinship cares, researchers, academics and professionals. We've also got

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Speaker 3: a number of keynote speakers from around the world America, Sweden, Canada,

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Speaker 3: the UK. It's just it's absolutely amazing. I think there's

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Speaker 3: twelve or fourteen international countries that will be represented as speakers,

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Speaker 3: providing presentations about foster and kinship care around the research

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Speaker 3: in those areas and how we can improve the system.

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Speaker 1: Now, how important is this work share all, because I

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Speaker 1: think that that's the cruxt of the conversation as well

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Speaker 1: today is you know, it must take an enormous amount

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Speaker 1: of effort to be a foster care How important are

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Speaker 1: those carers in our community?

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Speaker 3: Oh, they're crucial. They're probably one of those volunteer groups

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Speaker 3: that just don't get enough recognition, if I'm really honest,

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Speaker 3: because they just go about being regular everyday mums and

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Speaker 3: dads who are just putting in the effort providing loving,

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Speaker 3: supporting homes for some of the territory's most vulnerable children.

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Speaker 1: Do we have a lot of foster and kinship cares

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Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: Well, we have about a thousand foster and kin cares

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Speaker 3: and that's amazing, but we could always do with more

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Speaker 3: because we know it is an area that we will

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Speaker 3: always need. We know that we have a lot of

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Speaker 3: kids in care unfortunately due to a variety of reasons. Though,

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Speaker 3: so these families who step up and open their homes

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Speaker 3: and open their hearts are just essential so that kids,

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Speaker 3: as we know from Royal Commissions, don't go into institutionalized care,

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Speaker 3: they have a true home based family environment to be

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Speaker 3: grown up in Cheryl.

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Speaker 1: You know, to those out there listening this morning, what

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Speaker 1: is like, what's it like to be a foster care

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Speaker 1: Because there are probably people thinking, hey, you know what

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Speaker 1: I actually you know, I'm in a situation where I

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Speaker 1: may or may not be able to do that, But

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Speaker 1: what is it like to be a foster Cara?

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Speaker 3: Well, actually, this is something I can speak to because

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Speaker 3: I am a foster cara. My husband and I have

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Speaker 3: two wonderful boys and it can be challenging there's no

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Speaker 3: denying that. But the rewards and the benefits of seeing

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Speaker 3: them grow and love and just be the best version

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Speaker 3: that they can be because they're in that safe, loving environment.

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Speaker 3: It's just such a privileged and and honor to be

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Speaker 3: a part of their world, not ours, but theirs.

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Speaker 2: Cheryl is the Northern like in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: At the moment, you mentioned that that they're always after

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Speaker 1: more foster cares. Is that something that you know we

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Speaker 1: are looking for at the moment.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, we're always open to recruit new fostering Kinship cares,

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Speaker 3: And of course they can go to our website FKCA

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Speaker 3: dot org dot au or give us a call and

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Speaker 3: one of my team will be happy to talk to them,

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Speaker 3: even if it's just a point of interest today that

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Speaker 3: they might want to look at next week or even

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Speaker 3: in the new year. They can give us a call

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Speaker 3: and we'll be happy to go through all of the

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Speaker 3: requirements with them and show just how easy it is

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Speaker 3: to be able to really change someone's life today.

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Speaker 1: And it seems like the conference is going to be

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Speaker 1: a really important part of this and a really important

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Speaker 1: part of you know, of progressing. I guess when it

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Speaker 1: comes to some of the different the different initiatives, different

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Speaker 1: things that can be happening in this space. And I'm

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Speaker 1: sure that there's probably still lots to learn from other

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Speaker 1: people who are here from around the nation.

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Speaker 3: That's true, and you know, it is really very much

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Speaker 3: that village mentality. The village raises a child. Let's look

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Speaker 3: at what the other villages are doing and make sure

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Speaker 3: that we also showcase the amazing work that we are

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Speaker 3: actually doing here in the territory. We've been very honored

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Speaker 3: with our ambassador for the com is our own Minister,

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Speaker 3: Minister Kate Warden. So we've been very lucky to have

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Speaker 3: Minister Warden on board with us and really flying the

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Speaker 3: flag for Foster and Kinship Cares through this jurisdiction.

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Speaker 1: And it's also the tenth anniversary for the co host

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Speaker 1: Foster and Kinship Cares Association here in the NT, isn't it.

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Speaker 3: Yes, it is. So we were stood up as the

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Speaker 3: peak body after the Board of Inquiry Little Children of

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Speaker 3: Sacred and they identified Dan as through one of the

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Speaker 3: recommendations from doctor Howard Bath that a peak body should

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Speaker 3: be stood up, and so we were and we've been

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Speaker 3: doing that job now for eleven years. Sadly, because of COVID,

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Speaker 3: we had to push the conference back for an additional

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Speaker 3: twelve month. But yeah, we are very happy that we've

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Speaker 3: grown and evolved and we're a real sector leader in

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Speaker 3: out of home care space, so we're very proud of that.

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Speaker 2: Well, Cheryl, we.

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Speaker 1: Really appreciate you having a chat with us this morning.

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Speaker 1: I think it's incredibly important work and it is good

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Speaker 1: for listeners to hear a little bit more about it.

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Speaker 1: But also there may be listeners out there this morning

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Speaker 1: who think, do you know what my children have grown

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Speaker 1: up a little bit? Or I feel as though I'm

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Speaker 1: in the right space where I would like to actually

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Speaker 1: get in contact and look at becoming a foster care.

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Speaker 1: So it's really good to speak with you this morning.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate your time.

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Speaker 3: No worries. Thank you very much, Katie, thank you