Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Foster Care and Kinship Association CEO Cheryl Schmidt says an international conference being held in the NT aims to improve the lives of children in care

Transcript

Foster Care and Kinship Association CEO Cheryl Schmidt says an international conference being held in the NT aims to improve the lives of children in care · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now over six hundred people are in Darwin right now
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: attending the International and National Foster Care Conference. Now, the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: event's actually coinciding with the fortieth anniversary as well of
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: International Foster Care Organization and the tenth anniversary of Foster
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and Kinship Cares Association here in the Northern Territory. Now
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: joining me on the line to tell us a little
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: bit more about what is actually happening is the CEO
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of the Foster Care and Kinship Association, Cheryl Smith.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Cheryl.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Hi Katie, how are you?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, really well, Thanks so much for your time this morning.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: My pleasure.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Now, firstly, who is here for the conference?
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: More than six hundred people, It sounds like a lot
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: of people are here for it.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: It is an amazing turnout for Darwin, particularly post COVID.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: It's one of the first face to face conferences that
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: we've had the opportunity to attend, which is really amazing
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: that we're hoping it here in Darwin, where we've got
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: eighty four percent of all of the delegates come out
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: from international or from around Australia, so that's just amazing.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right, that is a huge number.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: And what locations are you talking about when you say
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: that they are coming from other states and places around
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the world.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: So obviously for the national conference, every state and jurisdiction
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: has a peak both similar to ourselves, and they bring
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: all of their delegations from those states and their foster
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: and kinship cares, researchers, academics and professionals. We've also got
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: a number of keynote speakers from around the world America, Sweden, Canada,
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: the UK. It's just it's absolutely amazing. I think there's
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: twelve or fourteen international countries that will be represented as speakers,
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: providing presentations about foster and kinship care around the research
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: in those areas and how we can improve the system.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Now, how important is this work share all, because I
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: think that that's the cruxt of the conversation as well
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: today is you know, it must take an enormous amount
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: of effort to be a foster care How important are
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: those carers in our community?
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Oh, they're crucial. They're probably one of those volunteer groups
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: that just don't get enough recognition, if I'm really honest,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: because they just go about being regular everyday mums and
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: dads who are just putting in the effort providing loving,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: supporting homes for some of the territory's most vulnerable children.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Do we have a lot of foster and kinship cares
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Well, we have about a thousand foster and kin cares
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: and that's amazing, but we could always do with more
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: because we know it is an area that we will
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: always need. We know that we have a lot of
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: kids in care unfortunately due to a variety of reasons. Though,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: so these families who step up and open their homes
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: and open their hearts are just essential so that kids,
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: as we know from Royal Commissions, don't go into institutionalized care,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: they have a true home based family environment to be
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: grown up in Cheryl.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: You know, to those out there listening this morning, what
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: is like, what's it like to be a foster care
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Because there are probably people thinking, hey, you know what
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I actually you know, I'm in a situation where I
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: may or may not be able to do that, But
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: what is it like to be a foster Cara?
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Well, actually, this is something I can speak to because
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: I am a foster cara. My husband and I have
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: two wonderful boys and it can be challenging there's no
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: denying that. But the rewards and the benefits of seeing
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: them grow and love and just be the best version
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: that they can be because they're in that safe, loving environment.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: It's just such a privileged and and honor to be
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: a part of their world, not ours, but theirs.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Cheryl is the Northern like in the Northern Territory.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: At the moment, you mentioned that that they're always after
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: more foster cares. Is that something that you know we
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: are looking for at the moment.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, we're always open to recruit new fostering Kinship cares,
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: And of course they can go to our website FKCA
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: dot org dot au or give us a call and
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: one of my team will be happy to talk to them,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: even if it's just a point of interest today that
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: they might want to look at next week or even
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: in the new year. They can give us a call
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: and we'll be happy to go through all of the
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: requirements with them and show just how easy it is
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: to be able to really change someone's life today.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: And it seems like the conference is going to be
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: a really important part of this and a really important
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: part of you know, of progressing. I guess when it
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: comes to some of the different the different initiatives, different
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: things that can be happening in this space. And I'm
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: sure that there's probably still lots to learn from other
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: people who are here from around the nation.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: That's true, and you know, it is really very much
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: that village mentality. The village raises a child. Let's look
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: at what the other villages are doing and make sure
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: that we also showcase the amazing work that we are
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: actually doing here in the territory. We've been very honored
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: with our ambassador for the com is our own Minister,
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Minister Kate Warden. So we've been very lucky to have
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: Minister Warden on board with us and really flying the
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: flag for Foster and Kinship Cares through this jurisdiction.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: And it's also the tenth anniversary for the co host
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Foster and Kinship Cares Association here in the NT, isn't it.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Yes, it is. So we were stood up as the
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: peak body after the Board of Inquiry Little Children of
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Sacred and they identified Dan as through one of the
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: recommendations from doctor Howard Bath that a peak body should
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: be stood up, and so we were and we've been
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: doing that job now for eleven years. Sadly, because of COVID,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: we had to push the conference back for an additional
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: twelve month. But yeah, we are very happy that we've
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: grown and evolved and we're a real sector leader in
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: out of home care space, so we're very proud of that.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Well, Cheryl, we.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Really appreciate you having a chat with us this morning.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I think it's incredibly important work and it is good
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: for listeners to hear a little bit more about it.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: But also there may be listeners out there this morning
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: who think, do you know what my children have grown
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: up a little bit? Or I feel as though I'm
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: in the right space where I would like to actually
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: get in contact and look at becoming a foster care.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: So it's really good to speak with you this morning.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: I appreciate your time.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: No worries. Thank you very much, Katie, thank you