Ordinary People, Extraordinary Hearts: reflecting on WA Foster and Family Carers Week

‘Ordinary People, Extraordinary Hearts: reflecting on WA Foster and Family Carers Week’ blog article was written by Shaun Chandran, Regional Director, Therapeutic Services at Australian Childhood Foundation. 

Last week, we celebrated Western Australia’s Foster and Family Carers Week in recognition of the invaluable contribution foster and family carers make opening the doors of their hearts and homes to children and young people.

When I spoke with our foster carers about what this week means to them, many shared that they rarely pause to think about what they do, “it’s just who we are”. One carer told me,

“People say to me all the time, ‘I couldn’t do what you do’. I hear it from friends, colleagues and even foster care workers. I’ve even been called a superhero. That’s definitely not how I see myself. I’m just an ordinary person doing my best to give a child a home.”

Over the past 18 months, since Australian Childhood Foundation began our journey as a foster care provider in Western Australia, we have come to see more clearly the heart behind caring, the ordinary people with extraordinary hearts. We’ve come to learn that it’s often not the grand gestures that matter, it’s the ordinary ones. The small, daily acts of care that carry big meaning.

Moments like cutting the sandwich just the way a child likes them. Tucking a small note in their lunchbox. Singing along to their favourite song on the way to school. Asking them about their day at the dinner table. Reading the same story each night until the words become a lullaby of safety. A forehead kiss that, over time, becomes something a child waits for.

Caregiving is made up of thousands of these ordinary moments. One carer shared the story of attending her foster child’s sports carnival over three consecutive years.

“He’d never had anyone show up for him before. The first sports carnival, he barely looked at me. The second year, he gave me a little nod. The third time, he ran straight to me after his race and gave me a hug. It wasn’t about cheering him on. It was about showing up, again and again.”

These may not be the stories that make headlines, but they are the ones that change lives. They remind us that love, patience, and persistence, offered day after day are powerful beyond measure.

Family and kinship carers, grandparents, aunties, uncles, extended family are also part of this extraordinary story. They are the fastest growing form of out of home care in Australia, carrying unique challenges and profound strengths. Their care is deeply rooted in family connection and can often go unseen by the wider community. This week was also about celebrating them.

At the Foundation, we have spent decades walking alongside carers and learning about what it means to truly support them. We often say that healing happens in relationship. And just as children do not heal in isolation, carers cannot do this work alone. It takes a village, a community of care wrapped around our children and carers.

As Foster and Family Carers Week reminds us to celebrate carers and to honour the love and care they give, it also serves as a timely reminder of how much we need to give back to carers, to see them, support them and to care for them in the same way they care for children.

To every foster and family carer across Western Australia and beyond. We see you. We celebrate you. And we thank you for the extraordinary heart you bring to the lives of children, not just for one week, but every single day.

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