Our Call for Change
Our current way of caring for children in out-of-home care (foster care) has forgotten the centrality of relationships. We've replaced connection with excessive compliance, forms and risk assessment. Relationships with families and carers are being undermined by rules and regulations. Too many children are being raised by rotating shift workers, not by people who know them and care deeply for them.
This is a system that, by design, denies children the one thing they need most: real, lasting connection. This isn’t just a policy issue. It’s a heartbreak. Because relational deprivation is harm.
We want a world where every child in out-of-home care - more than 45,000 kids across Australia - is wrapped in safe, steady relationships with adults who show up, stay close, and stand firmly in their corner.
It’s time for a Child Connection System where human connection, not red tape, shapes a child's future.
- To those who have felt the pain rippling through generations.
- For anyone who has seen a locked food cupboard in a group home.
- For anyone who has seen parents' and children’s faces, not just during a ‘contact visit’ but before and after.
- To anyone who has felt poverty and housing instability.
- To those who know that violence and neglect must be addressed but also know that the system meant to help is, itself, causing harm.
- To those who agree that the cost of maintaining the current status quo is unpalatable.
- To those who hold hope for being able to create better outcomes for children.
Together we stand for a new paradigm of care, where meaningful relationships safeguard our most vulnerable - where protection comes through connection.
The neuroscience is clear: the more attuned, caring adults a child has, the safer and stronger they become. This isn't just a better approach, it’s a deeply human one. It reflects what we intuitively know to be true about care and real relationships, and acknowledges the deeply held wisdom from First Nations peoples of knowing, being, and doing, when caring for children and families in their communities.
A Child Connection System helps us to understand the true value of our work by asking the people we are there to support “What can I do to help?” and “Is what I did helpful?”. This approach measures what matters most to the people who matter most. It lets go of abstract ideas of ‘safety’ that we wouldn’t accept in our own lives and replaces them with actions that are more real, grounded and human.
Core principles
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Our deepest loyalty is to children’s welbeing and ensuring they have safe, lasting connections- not to rules designed to manage legal or organisational risk, or to time-framed availability.
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Paperwork doesn't change people's lives, people do. Healing happens in human connection and real presence.
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First Nations ways of caring come from a deep understanding that everything is connected: people, place, spirit, and story. First Nations communities must hold the power, resources and leadership to care for their children in ways that are grounded in culture, community and connection.
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Children are best supported when adults unite and find trust together. Families, kin and carers carry the wisdom to find pathways and possibilities for nurturing relationships and a sense of belonging.
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Change is already underway. Being part of it demands more than intention - it calls for brave, ongoing reflection and action.
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Relationships are messy, and no system can eliminate all risks or pain. But there is a better way - one that causes less harm, holds people through hard times, supports those who support others, and responds with empathy and humanity, not judgement.
Across government, the sector, and community, people are making this shift:
People from government who support this movement are telling us they want to be part of real, lasting change. They know that shifting deeply embedded systems is complex but they believe it’s possible. They see their role not just in policy or programs, but in being an integral part of shifting culture from within. They are using their voice, their influence, and their position to make space for a new paradigm that is based on supporting children and families through connection and relationships.
People who work in the sector who are part of this movement are telling us they want a different way, one that puts children and families, not process and risk, at the centre. They’re not waiting for top-down solutions. They’re already naming when the system puts its own needs ahead of the people it’s meant to serve. They’re speaking honestly about the harm of relational deprivation and standing for something better: a care system grounded in trust, relationship, and humanity.
People within the community are showing the way. They’re asking, “What do you need?” and acting with care. They’re sharing stories that reflect the truth of lived experience. They’re part of a network of grassroots organisations, community groups, families and neighbours who are making a difference. Many of them are becoming what every child needs: an attuned, reliable adult who is in their corner.
If this speaks to you, be part of the movement and JOIN US. Because every child deserves to be known, loved and held in connection.