Commitment to Supporting Carer Awards

This year the FCAV hosted the first ever Commitment to Supporting Carer Awards during Foster Care Week.

These awards are an opportunity to acknowledge an instance of receiving great support from an Agency or DFFH Worker. We invited foster carers to submit a nomination for a worker who has made a difference for them. We reached out to our members via email campaigns and social media to seek a wide range of submissions from the community. We received a total of 64 nominations from foster carers.

 

The Carer Information and Support Service team went through the nominations to select a shortlisted group which was then further analysed to find the two winners. We look forward to integrating these awards into foster care week into the future. We created certificates to recognise those who were nominated, shortlisted as a finalist and winners.

 

The list of shortlisted workers:

  • Lenni Burtt - Lighthouse Foundation
  • Jacintha Condillac – VACCA
  • Jennifer Coverdale - Uniting
  • Madison Kelly - Mackillop
  • Sarah Martin - Barwon Child, Youth & Family
  • Beth Matthews - Anglicare

 

 

The winners:

 

  • Beth Matthews of Anglicare

 

And

 

  • Sarah Martin of Barwon Child Youth and Family

 

Beth Matthews received two separate nominations, a testament to her consistent support.

 

One nominator said “Beth is our shining star on a daily basis. She shows up for us and for the children in our care, time and time again. We always feel like our voice as a carer is heard, everything is run past us before decisions are made, she is our loudest cheerleader in the good times and our strongest support during the difficult times.”

 

The other nomination for Beth shared a very pointed outcome to her work.

 

“The child in our care has since turned 18yo and has started studying to be a youth worker. We believe that he was inspired and supported by Beth and saw how great Beth was in supporting us.”

 

Sarah’s nominee foster carer said “Sarah always ensured that the best interests of the children in our care were upheld, and she checked in at least weekly but at times would communicate many times a week. We knew we could always call or email her and were never made to feel that it was an impost. It always felt like we were all working in unison for the best outcomes for the children.”

 

Thank you to everyone who made a submission and got behind these awards and congratulations to the winners this year. It was wonderful to see agencies and carers celebrate these workers who go above and beyond for their carers.

 

 

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Congratulations again to Sarah Martin and Beth Matthews, and to all of the finalists.