CATHOLICCARE
BBN / OCTOBER 2020
A young boy entering emergency motel style accommodation with a Case Worker
Can you open your heart and your home to a child in need? By Sean Cashin, General Manager, CatholicCare Permanency Support Program It has been a hard couple of years. On the back of the worst drought the country has experienced in living memory, we entered a catastrophic bushfire season. We managed, helped where we could, sent money (even water) and eventually the fires went out and we began to rebuild. Then a pandemic hit! The frail and old started to suffer and fear gripped our communities. Social isolation and financial uncertainty became a reality for many of us as the country began to shut down. How did we respond? We helped where we could. We socially distanced, we checked in on our friends and family over video link and visited our grandparents through glass windows to keep them safe. Even the banks helped. The banks! This is what we do in the face of hardship, when we learn that our neighbours are struggling. We step in. Time and time again.
tucking him back under his blankets before swallowing her fear and leaving the faux safety of her bedroom in search of her mother. She finds her, bruised and weeping on the kitchen floor, a victim of domestic violence. While she is doing her best to help her mother, Police and Child Protection Workers arrive and she is taken to an emergency carer’s house with her brother. Unbeknownst to her, this will be the last she sees of her mother for two years. This scenario describes a typical entry of a child into the Statutory Out of Home Care system. The children enter care after suffering, often for many years, from abuse and neglect and the impact from this trauma can be lifelong. These children and young people are more likely to end up in the youth justice system and have far poorer education and health outcomes. They will likely enter a cycle of social disadvantage that is difficult to escape.
We need to help. So, what can we do?
A struggle that rarely makes news headlines is that of children and young people in our community who are suffering. Many have been through experiences few of us could begin to fathom and who, without our help, will go through childhood without the love and support of a family.
At any given time, there are dozens of children across our Diocese who require foster care. At times these children are housed in emergency motel style accommodation due to the shortage of foster carers. CatholicCare and our amazing foster carers provide essential support, care and stability for these children and young people affected by abuse and neglect, to enable them to recover and thrive.
Consider this scenario… a 12-year-old girl wakes in the night to sound of her mother crying. She is tense and alert. There is shouting and the noise of violence. She comforts her younger brother who is trembling at the foot of his bed,
We are looking for everyday families who might consider taking a child or young person into their home – to love and support them – whether for one or two nights, a few weeks, months or long-term.
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