Introduction

Welcome to my website about foster care and kinship/whanau care.

My name is Allysa, and I work part-time as an Information Officer for my local Citizens Advice Bureau. The rest of my time is spent being an 'At Home Mother' to our four children. Two of our children have special needs of some sort. We have also been kinship carers to my younger brother, who has now moved on to his next stage, of being a young adult.

My husband and I have been Caregivers now for many years, with lots of children having been through our home – some long term and some just staying for a few nights.

Throughout the years, I have found there to be a distinct lack of information available, for us Caregivers. Being a Foster Parent/Caregiver takes up so much time, that often we put aside the need to find out the correct information that may be required at any particular time.

This, I hope, will be where this web site may be of help. This site is here to help you with your important journey as a Foster Parent. It will not have all the answers, but hopefully will help you to know that, as a Caregiver you are not alone in this journey. Caregiving is a challenging, but very rewarding job, and we need as much support as possible.

This web site is New Zealand based. Although in saying this, some of the links may be from other countries. On searching the NET, I have found that it doesn’t matter where in the world you are ‘Fostering’ – we all seem to have the same issues.

Feel free to browse around this site. I certainly hope that you will find something that will help you in your role as a Foster Parent/Caregiver.

It should be noted that by 'Caregivers' this site is referring to adults who care for 'at risk' children that are NOT their own on a full time 24/7 basis, usually within a caregiver's own home or in a residential setting. Caregivers referred to could be  foster parents, grandparent carers, guardianship carers, kinship/whanau carers, respite or emergency caregivers.

Yours in Fostering
Allysa Carberry