We helped Mackillop Family Services
highlight foster carers’ voices.

“I guess now we know the routines, we kind of prepare our hearts a little bit more for it maybe.” 

– Foster Carer with MacKillop Family Services and Research Participant)

Foster and kinship carers open their homes and hearts to vulnerable children, all the while knowing that, at some point, they will have to say goodbye. Goodbye is part of the foster care process. But knowing a farewell is inevitable doesn’t make it any easier. These goodbyes are often accompanied with feelings of loss and grief. The cumulative effect of so many goodbyes to so many children can be challenging for carers and their families. And, for some, just the fear of those challenging goodbyes can be enough to stop them from even becoming a foster carer in the first place.

MacKillop Family Services commissioned Dr Magaret Kertesz, University of Melbourne, to undertake research into the impact of these goodbyes on carers. She explains: 

“Many carers have found that the end of a placement is just passed over as routine and their grief is unrecognised when a child moves on …disenfranchised grief is grief that’s not recognised. So the grieving person can find it really hard to grieve properly.” 

Dr Kertesz’s research report, Grief and Loss: Understanding the impacts of placement transitions on MacKillop foster carers and their children uncovered insights, perspectives and recommendations which the team at MacKillop Family Services wanted to share more widely.

To complement and unpack this important research report, MacKillop Family Services created a 5-episode podcast Preparing Our Hearts: A Foster Care Journey. In the podcast, host and Principal Practitioner at MacKillop Family Services, Summah Hemming, interviews Dr Kertesz, experienced foster and kinship carers, carers’ biological children, and foster care professionals to further examine the experiences, challenges, coping strategies and support around saying goodbye to a foster child.

Preparing Our Hearts explores what Dr Kertesz’s research means for those on the frontlines in an accessible, relatable format for carers, foster care professionals, and anyone considering opening their home to a child in care. Experienced carers share their coping strategies and practical ways in which they ‘prepare their hearts’ for the inevitable moment a child leaves their home. Foster care professionals from MacKillop Family Services also offer their perspectives and insights on the unique role they play in supporting carers on this journey.

At the heart of the podcast series is the voice of the carer. Throughout the series, experienced foster and kinship carers share profound, moving and honest stories that provide insight into the realities of the foster care journey. Preparing Our Hearts advocates for deeper listening to foster and kinship carers’ experiences to inform practice which, in turn, will position the sector to provide the type of support carers really need.

Preparing Our Hearts is a podcast for new and experienced carers, for those considering taking on this meaningful role, and for the professionals who work in the sector. It is a celebration and acknowledgement of the often overlooked work of foster and kinship carers and the real difference they make in the community and in the lives of vulnerable children.