Vision: To see a movement of Australian Christians and churches living out their faith by caring for children growing up in out of home care.
Mission: To inspire and equip Christians in Australia to find more homes for children removed from their families of birth than are needed. To support the church to understand and support carers and children in care in their churches and communities.
Values: Fostering Hope has three core values that influence all our work. We are faith-rooted, child-focused and believe in the importance of community.
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Faith-rooted: As Christians, we believe each of us are rescued by God and adopted into His family and then encouraged to live like Jesus. Jesus’ example was one of loving and accepting the vulnerable and powerless and we seek to do the same. We commit to prayer and hold onto our faith in all our work. We are open about our faith foundation and recognise the potential of individual Christians and church communities to make a difference.
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Child-focused: children and young people are the reason we do our work. Childhood is a time of developing, learning, and joy and only happens once. It is a time when we need protection and love from adults in our lives. We are passionate about finding the best possible home for every child who needs one, where they will find belonging, hope, and an opportunity to thrive. We believe vulnerable children can thrive in out of home care when we listen to their voices and are trauma-informed in our care.
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Value community: We value community for children who enter care and for carers. When children are removed, they are also removed from their communities and we work with carers to build a community around the children in their home. Caring for vulnerable children is not easy and carers need communities of other Christian carers and their church community for spiritual and practical support.
ABOUT US
Fostering Hope is a Christian organisation whose work comes from the Bible and the teachings of Jesus to ‘visit’ and ‘care for’ orphans and widows, to put the lonely in families, to love the fatherless, to care for children, to love the neighbours in the communities God has placed us, and to be salt and light.
Our work is for everyone, regardless of denomination or tradition, we are finding homes for children that will be healing, hopeful and respectful of everyone on the journey.
Our board
Fostering Hope is a registered Australian charity and has a Board and an Advisory Group. The Board provides the strategic, financial, and governance direction of the organisation with the support of an Advisory Group of people passionate about the work of Fostering Hope.
Executive Officer
Mary Dickins
Mary and her husband Al founded Fostering Hope. They are long-term carers and have seen the transformation of foster care in their lives, church, and community. Mary has worked and volunteered in the community sector for over twenty years.
Board Member
John is a former church pastor and head of Tabor College in Hobart.
He is a mentor to people in ministry and a member at Wellspring Anglican church.
He loves to walk and play clarinet.
Board Member and Treasurer
Tim, his wife Chan and their family are long-term and respite foster carers in southern Tasmania. Tim works at Anglicare and has a great understanding of being a carer and the community sector.
Our history
Fostering Hope started when a handful of Christian fostering families connected and began sharing their fostering journey and their desire to encourage others to join the journey. These families began having the conversation about the need for more carers, the joys and hardships, and asked people to join them in their churches, schools, and communities.
Fostering Hope is humbled by the support from donors, churches, denominations, media, and the community for its work. From a handful of fostering families we have grown to supporting foster, kinship, and informal carers throughout Tasmania.
Advisory group
The Advisory Group is made up of current and past foster and kinship carers, community leaders, social workers, and people who have grown up in fostering families. We meet four times a year to consider the direction of Fostering Hope, dream, problem solve, and work together. It is an encouraging and exciting group to be part of!
If this is something you would like to be a part of, or feel you could contribute to, please let us know.
Knowing that we are on the journey together and share a common passion and goal is always so inspiring to me.