Become part of our foster carer community
Opening your home and heart can change the lives of children and young people forever
You can make a difference in the lives of children and young people by providing a safe, stable, and loving family and home that enables them to play, grow and thrive.
All children need to feel safe, respected, loved, and that they belong. In our therapeutic foster care program, we will work together to make this happen.
Our goal is that all children receive a therapeutic approach while they live in foster care to ensure that it’s a positive, life-changing experience for the child and their foster family.
Can I become a foster carer?
If you are a compassionate person over 21 years of age, dedicated to creating a safe and nurturing environment for vulnerable children, you can be a foster carer. You can be single, partnered, with children or without. You can be a foster carer no matter what your background, or the community that you come from.
We believe that it is your commitment to meeting the unique needs of the children and young people in your care that matters most.
How will we support you?
Embark on this journey with us, knowing we’ve got your back every step of the way.
When foster carers are supported to understand what has happened to the children they care for and how to make sense of the behaviours being expressed, they are able to respond to the child’s needs for healing with confidence and love.
Destructive and abusive relationships hurt children. Connected, safe, and trusting relationships support children in healing.
Our therapeutic team
Every foster family has a specialist team around them to provide tailored practical, therapeutic, and cultural support through to information sharing and specialist foster carer training. We have a multidisciplinary team of care coordinators, therapeutic specialists, cultural leaders, educators, counsellors, and carer support.
Foster carers will also have access to
- After hours on-call support 24/7 provided by experienced and trained staff
- Specialist counselling and support for personal issues and stressors through OurSPACE WA
- Foster carer peer support groups and social events
- Specialist foster carer training and development
Why foster with us?
Every carer and child receives therapeutic and cultural support
We are not a traditional foster care provider
We know that First Nations children and young people coming into foster care carry with them the impacts of the abuse, violence or neglect that they have experienced in addition to effects of collective trauma caused by colonisation. These impacts don’t just disappear after safety is created from further abuse. They show us their distress in their thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Many have missed out on important developmental opportunities and struggle to express themselves, especially in moments of frustration or sadness. Children act out what they don’t have the words to say, which can be confusing and challenging for the adults around them. It can be hard to know how best to respond in a way that makes a difference.
For this reason, every child in our care will receive a therapeutic assessment, support and review. Every carer will receive high level, wraparound therapeutic support that assists them to understand the needs of the child in their care and implement strategies to address them.
Using culture to heal trauma
We know that children and young people can and do recover from the effects of trauma and significant disadvantage, to lead positive, meaningful and fulfilled lives.
Children and young people are not defined by what has happened to them. Each child holds unique strengths, capabilities and hopes that should be recognised, strengthened and upheld. When we understand the impact of trauma on children and young people, we are better able to help them to heal.
Cultural Connectedness is our business
Culture is the life force that has sustained First Nations peoples and is central to the wellbeing of their children and young people. Our Cultural Connectedness Plans are developed by a senior First Nations staff member in collaboration with the child or young person, and their birth family, an Aboriginal Elder from the local area, or the child or young person’s community, their foster carer and the Department caseworker.
For First Nations children and young people, maintaining their cultural connection with family, Country and community is key to them developing a strong sense of themselves and of their culture and belonging.
Our Cultural Connectedness Plans seek to provide cultural consistency across the child or young person’s overall care plan, and to a continuous connection to their family, culture and community.
More than a role, it’s a relationship
We believe that relationships serve as the vehicles through which children and young people are supported to heal and become resilient and strong. Children and young people rely on connection in relationships to establish a sense of self, a sense of others and their place in their world.
Foster carers offer children and young people a relationship that builds trust, openness, and hope that change is possible.
Planting seeds for a lifetime
We believe children need relational stability and permanence, not just placement permanency. We are setting children up for good lives, and our impact reverberates through a child’s life, not just the time they are with you.
We are planting seeds for a lifetime to grow a community around a child that supports their long-term wellbeing.
We do it as a team
We know that things work best when everyone works together.
We will use a team approach involving all the key people in children and young people’s lives – carers, family, other professionals and the child or young person themselves, to ensure that everyone is receiving the support needed.
Caring for our carers
Caring for carers is a cornerstone of our vision. Choosing to become a foster carer is a remarkable decision that requires exceptional emotional strength, courage and resilience. Caring for a child or young person who has endured emotional pain and rejection, while helping them to trust adults to be reliable, nurturing and protective can be both challenging and endlessly rewarding.
The wellbeing of those involved in caring for and assisting children and young people to heal is critical. Our carers feel comfortable asking for support in difficult times and are open to learning and changing their responses. And we understand the complex range of feelings that go along with these relationships.
In addition to encouraging carers to engage in self-care practices, we also provide a community of care and support approach. We are there for foster carers, to provide practical, therapeutic and cultural support, that enables lasting carer and child relationships.
Join us today to make a difference in the lives of children
Our friendly and helpful foster care specialists are ready to answer your questions. Whether you’re looking to begin the carer journey or want more information, we would love to hear from you.
Acknowledgement of Country
Karla Kuliny Aboriginal Corporation acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians and owners of the lands and waters throughout country. We show and pay respects to our Elders, past and present, and to the children and young people who are our leaders of tomorrow. We recognise the enduring connection to lands and waters and the role as the original storytellers around the campfire that continues to create strong pathways for our children and the generations to come.
As we return to campfire, we honour the wisdom and knowledge that has been passed down through generations, and we are grateful for the inspired and rich cultural heritage of the oldest continuing culture in the world. We acknowledge the importance of preserving and celebrating traditions, and we are committed to a future of cultural respect and understanding.
May we continue to create a shared journey that respects the traditions and wisdom from our elders with the intergenerational transfer of knowledge that not only enriches the journey of our children we also strive to foster a strong sense of identity and belonging – creating strength from past to present and into the future.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material.
Acknowledgement of Country
Karla Kuliny Aboriginal Corporation acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians and owners of the lands and waters throughout country. We show and pay respects to our Elders, past and present, and to the children and young people who are our leaders of tomorrow. We recognise the enduring connection to lands and waters and the role as the original storytellers around the campfire that continues to create strong pathways for our children and the generations to come.
As we return to campfire, we honour the wisdom and knowledge that has been passed down through generations, and we are grateful for the inspired and rich cultural heritage of the oldest continuing culture in the world. We acknowledge the importance of preserving and celebrating traditions, and we are committed to a future of cultural respect and understanding.
May we continue to create a shared journey that respects the traditions and wisdom from our elders with the intergenerational transfer of knowledge that not only enriches the journey of our children we also strive to foster a strong sense of identity and belonging – creating strength from past to present and into the future.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material.