This Foster & Kinship Carer Week (11-17 September), Lutheran Care acknowledges and celebrates all carers in the Village.

We are continually amazed and humbled by the incredible and transformative contribution of the Lutheran Care Village of carers who selflessly give so much to local children and young people.

In recognition of the week Lutheran Care Foster Care Case Workers festively visit all Lutheran Care households in September delivering a gift to specifically honour and recognise the ongoing commitment and importance of carers to the wellbeing of children and young people in their care.

It’s a reflective time for the community to celebrate, honour and praise Foster Carers in our community for their life-transforming and positive impact on children and young people, whether they care for children for a short while or a long time.

When Foster Carers care for children and young people in Emergency and Short Term care, they provide a safe base for a child or young person in a short term capacity. In doing so, Emergency and Short Term Carers can make an impactful contribution to the lives of children in a short space of time, when they are most needed.  From this, children and young people may go on to reside with a Kinship Carer or return home safely.

Other carers providing Long Term Care may only care for one child, and raise them within their family long term. And those providing Respite Care, may care for a few children and young people once-off or ongoing, for short stays that help broaden the young person’s Village and network of support.

“The specific number of children you’ve cared for over your tenure of fostering isn’t the most important thing,” says one of Lutheran Care’s Emergency and Short Term carers.

All carers make significant contributions to the lives of children and young people, what carers can give one child through a long term safe and therapeutic relationship is certainly no more or less than a respite or short term carer who might care for many children a little while.

The nature of the relationship between a therapeutic parent and a child is the most important thing. The quality of this relationship directly correlates to the effectiveness of other supports and therapies that children and young people might engage with to help them navigate their story, find healing from adversity and realise their right to thrive.

It’s an extraordinary thing we ask of carers, to show up consistently and wholeheartedly, day after day, so that children and young people in their care can experience unconditional connection, acceptance and nurture for as long as they’re needed.

This September marks a special milestone for some carers in the Village with the celebration of their first Father’s Day. Lutheran Care highly values the role of Foster Dads and their unique contributions to children and young people. Each year we personalise a card to each and every Foster Dad in our Village to mark the day and the special way in which they provide a safe landing place, unconditional acceptance and nurture to those in their care.

“It was so lovely to receive a Father’s Day card from Lutheran Care, after coming home from a hard day at work, it was such a thoughtful thing… and extra special since it was my first Father’s Day,” shares one of Lutheran Care’s newly approved carers, Scott.

Sometimes words seem insufficient to capture our thanks and gratitude to all carers in our Village. Nevertheless, we really truly do thank them all, from the bottom of our hearts.

To all our carers thank you for finding and holding a place in your hearts for children and young people who need love, support and understanding, you are doing something incredible. Whilst what you’re planting today will not be reaped today, some of the most significant and essential growth occurs under the surface. Keep going – even on the days you don’t feel like you’re making a difference, take heart, you most certainly are.

Considering joining the Village? Find out more about becoming a Foster Carer here.