My Forever Family NSW Connect with the LGBTQI+ Community, Busting Myths, Growing Pride and Creating Homes for Kids in Care.

My Forever Family NSW Connect with the LGBTQI+ Community, Busting Myths, Growing Pride and Creating Homes for Kids in Care.

This year the My Forever Family NSW program will focus their ‘Grow your Pride’ campaign on encouraging the LGBTQI+ community to open their homes and their hearts to children living in the out-of-home care system. In NSW there are children in critical need of a home; in fact, 350 additional homes are required for children currently living in the state’s care system.

Australia, 19 February 2021: Today, My Forever Family NSW launch a campaign seeking greater inclusiveness and diversity in homes that care for children. The campaign called ‘Grow your Pride’ busts myths about the barriers to becoming a carer historically faced by the LGBTQI+ community. The organisation wants to raise awareness that being part of the gay community is not a barrier to caring for children. Rather, the focus of finding great carers is their ability to provide a safe, nurturing, and stable home that enables a child to thrive.

As part of the festivities of this years’ Mardi Gras celebration, the My Forever Family NSW program want to put a call out to all LGBTQI+ individuals and couples across the state to reach out and learn more about how they can become a foster carer.

Mandy Wiegold, a proud, gay, Aboriginal woman from the Eora Nation and carer, when asked about what she would say to those thinking about becoming a carer from the LGBTQI+ community, said, “I would tell them to go for it! There is no difference in the assessment or the way you take care of a child if you’re gay, straight, trans, it doesn’t make any difference.”

“You still give the same type of parenting. You still get the same type of training as everyone else but I do think that there are a lot of gay couples out there that don’t think they can become foster carers and they one hundred per cent can.”

My Forever Family NSW spokesperson Michelle Stacpoole talked about the need for more homes and carers just like Mandy. “Carers like Mandy play a pivotal role in a child’s life and show the truly diverse nature of carers throughout our great state. As an organisation we consider the needs and rights of children first, everything else comes second. Gender, race, and orientation are not considerations in the ability to provide a safe, nurturing, and stable home for a child,” said Ms Stacpoole.

With almost 17,000 children part of the out-of-home care system in NSW, Ms Stacpoole stressed the importance of finding as many safe, nurturing and stable homes as possible.

“We’re interested in hearing from a diverse spectrum of carers who support the varying needs of children in care and can build homes in which children can thrive and prosper,” she said.

Anyone wanting to understand more about becoming a carer should contact My Forever Family NSW for more information.

This year the My Forever Family NSW program will focus their ‘Grow your Pride’ campaign on encouraging the LGBTQI+ community to open their homes and their hearts to children living in the out-of-home care system. In NSW there are children in critical need of a home; in fact, 350 additional homes are required for children currently living in the state’s care system.

Australia, 19 February 2021: Today, My Forever Family NSW launch a campaign seeking greater inclusiveness and diversity in homes that care for children. The campaign called ‘Grow your Pride’ busts myths about the barriers to becoming a carer historically faced by the LGBTQI+ community. The organisation wants to raise awareness that being part of the gay community is not a barrier to caring for children. Rather, the focus of finding great carers is their ability to provide a safe, nurturing, and stable home that enables a child to thrive.

As part of the festivities of this years’ Mardi Gras celebration, the My Forever Family NSW program want to put a call out to all LGBTQI+ individuals and couples across the state to reach out and learn more about how they can become a foster carer.

Mandy Wiegold, a proud, gay, Aboriginal woman from the Eora Nation and carer, when asked about what she would say to those thinking about becoming a carer from the LGBTQI+ community, said, “I would tell them to go for it! There is no difference in the assessment or the way you take care of a child if you’re gay, straight, trans, it doesn’t make any difference.”

“You still give the same type of parenting. You still get the same type of training as everyone else but I do think that there are a lot of gay couples out there that don’t think they can become foster carers and they one hundred per cent can.”

My Forever Family NSW spokesperson Michelle Stacpoole talked about the need for more homes and carers just like Mandy. “Carers like Mandy play a pivotal role in a child’s life and show the truly diverse nature of carers throughout our great state. As an organisation we consider the needs and rights of children first, everything else comes second. Gender, race, and orientation are not considerations in the ability to provide a safe, nurturing, and stable home for a child,” said Ms Stacpoole.

With almost 17,000 children part of the out-of-home care system in NSW, Ms Stacpoole stressed the importance of finding as many safe, nurturing and stable homes as possible.

“We’re interested in hearing from a diverse spectrum of carers who support the varying needs of children in care and can build homes in which children can thrive and prosper,” she said.

Anyone wanting to understand more about becoming a carer should contact My Forever Family NSW for more information.

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