Further support for caregivers

 

BY JULIA WADE

Local families who open their homes and hearts to children in need of a caring home will soon have access to more support due to a nationwide charity advocating their services in the area. 

Charity organisation Fostering Kids NZ has been providing training, encouragement, advocacy, and support to caregivers and families for 40 years, ensuring tamariki (children) or rangitahi (young people) in their care have the best chance of success. 

Offering a variety of support to meet individual needs, the organisation believes strong support is vital to ensure stable and secure homes for children, and that carers should never feel they are alone. 

Fostering Kids NZ Kaipara member and representative Dianah Roberts, who is also co-ordinator for the areas Grandparents Raising Grandchildren group, says the charity is aiming to make their services and support more readily available around east Kaipara from Waipu to Maungaturoto and Mangawhai. 

“We’re going to start with discussion groups and then people can take advantage of the bigger training days which usually take place in Whangarei,” she says. “However if we get enough people attending there might be a possibility the association could bring their training programs to this area.” 

Fostering Kids NZ regional coordinator for Northland, Leanne Brownie, is visiting Kaiwaka on October 15 to present the first of the two hour discussion sessions ‘Living and working with traumatised children’. 

The discussion’s theme is part of the National Caregivers Training Programme (NCTP) that Fostering Kids NZ offer in conjunction with Oranga Tamariki, and also offers an opportunity for caregivers to meet. 

Roberts has completed the NCTP which involves a range of interesting workshops including Building Secure Attachments, Child Development, Safety and Protection, and Understanding and Supporting Behaviour. 

The training is free to most people who are raising children not born to them such as whanau, kin, foster and permanent caregivers, and grandparents raising grandchildren. 

“It’s just amazing all the things you can learn, it gives you so much psychological insight into how these kids think and feel, how to manage them and how to help them have a better chance at life.”

 Living and Working with Traumatised Children, Archie Ball Hall, 11 Kaiwaka-Mangawhai Rd, Kaiwaka. October 15, 12.30 to 2.30. To register for this discussion session, phone Christine on 0800 693 323 or visit fosteringkids.org.nz and register on the training calendar.