Kinship Care Week, held from 5 to 11 October, is an opportunity to recognise the families who step up to care for children and young people, and the importance of supporting them in that role.
When a child cannot live with their parents, kinship care can help them remain connected to family, culture and community while providing stability and care. In Victoria, it is now the dominant form of out-of-home care, accounting for around 77% of placements statewide.
But stepping into the role of kinship carer can come with its own challenges, from navigating complex family relationships to supporting a child through the impacts of trauma and significant change.
That is why this year’s Kinship Care Week theme, Supported carers. Supported kids, is so important.
At Lighthouse Foundation, we believe supporting a child also means supporting the person caring for them. Our Kinship Care and Family Support Program provides children, young people and their carers with a consistent circle of support, a sense of community and therapeutic care.
Meet Lighthouse kinship carer Trish
For Trish, being a kinship carer has meant opening her home and walking alongside children in her family through the everyday moments, challenges and celebrations of growing up.
It has been a journey of love, resilience and hope. Through the difficult moments, Trish has kept going, drawing strength from her community and her belief in the children she cares for. She has built a life around helping the children feel safe, connected and supported, while encouraging them to discover who they are and what they can achieve.
“I know we are not at the destination yet, but I would love to see the kids happy, part of the community, and succeeding in whatever they wish to do. There have been a lot of potholes on the road, but I have kept going because of the kids.
Trish has continued to draw strength from those around her, including the children’s sporting community, and from her own resilience.
“I am a positive person. I wake up and it’s a new day. It doesn’t matter what has happened in your life before; you can be reborn every day.”
That philosophy has become something she has passed on to the children too. For Trish, some of the greatest rewards have been seeing the children grow, find themselves and achieve things they can be proud of.
“I love seeing their progress and watching them develop self-awareness.”
She has kept their awards from their time in her care, treasured reminders of the progress she has witnessed.
“I want them to know who they are. I want them to be self-aware, confident, happy, and successful.”
Keeping family and connection at the heart of care
Lighthouse’s Kinship Care and Family Support Program supports children and young people aged 0 to 21 and their carers.
At the heart of the program is the Lighthouse Hub Home, where children, young people and carers can connect, reflect and learn together. Therapeutic Case Managers walk alongside families, supporting everything from family visits and health and wellbeing to education and day-to-day care.
The program also includes trauma-informed learning, reflective spaces, in-home support, community connection, respite and 24/7 support. Together, these supports help build the strong relationships and connections children and young people need to heal and grow.
For Trish, having someone to listen and walk alongside her has made a difference.
“Lighthouse has walked alongside me on this journey. I have felt supported in holding boundaries. They listen to me, and I have found that support throughout the whole organisation.”
For Lighthouse, this is Supported carers. Supported kids. in practice.
Rethinking kinship care
Strengthening support for kinship carers is also part of a wider conversation about transforming approaches to out-of-home care.
In August, Lighthouse Executive Director of Child, Youth and Families, Emma Gniel, presented at the 2026 ISPCAN International Congress in Melbourne, contributing to an international conversation about transforming approaches to out-of-home care and youth justice. The Congress brought together more than 1,000 professionals, with kinship, foster and residential care among its key themes.
Emma presented “Bringing Systemic Change through Lighthouse Foundation’s Unique Family Support Program for Kinship Carers, Children and Families”, exploring what transformation in kinship care can look like in practice.
As Emma explained:
“My contribution to that conversation is a practical one: rethinking kinship care — what transformation looks like when an out-of-home care program is built around relationships, and held together by a genuine, embedded therapeutic model of care.”
Through Lighthouse’s Family Support program, this means recognising the complex trauma, disrupted attachment and loss many children and young people in kinship care have experienced, while ensuring carers have therapeutic and practical support around them.
One year into a better way for kinship care
This year also marks one year since Lighthouse announced its three-year research partnership with Monash University and the Jack Brockhoff Foundation, focused on improving outcomes for children and families in kinship care.
The partnership was established in response to the need for stronger and more consistent support for kinship carers. More than 4,200 kinship households across Victoria were identified at the time of the announcement.
Now, one year into the partnership, the work continues to explore what helps kinship families thrive and how research can inform better approaches to supporting children, carers and families.
For Lighthouse, research and practice go hand in hand. It is about listening to families, learning from their experiences and continually asking how we can do better.
Hope for what comes next
For Trish, hope is what keeps her moving forward.
“Hope, community, and dreaming.”
Her hopes for the children she cares for are simple but profound: that they know who they are, feel confident in themselves, build meaningful relationships and have the opportunity to succeed.
And perhaps most importantly, that they know they belong.
This Kinship Care Week, Lighthouse Foundation celebrates Trish and the many kinship carers who step up for children and young people.
Because caring for a child is never something one person should have to do alone.
Learn more about Lighthouse Kinship and Family support program here
*Image of Trish changed for privacy
