There’s a flurry of excitement, colour and sequins at MacKillop Family Services, as the Foster Care Recruitment team get ready for Midsumma Carnival at Alexandra Gardens, St Kilda Road, on Sunday 20 January.
The Midsumma Festival is an annual celebration of queer, intersex, transgender, bisexual, lesbian and gay culture, held during January and February in Melbourne.
This is the first time MacKillop has taken part in Midsumma and Foster Care Recruitment and Development Manager, Jasmine Perry, is excited at the opportunity to talk to people from the LGBTIQ community about foster care,
“Many of our existing carers are from the LGBTIQ community, but there are still misconceptions that foster carers must be heterosexual, married or have their own children. This is absolutely not the case. Our foster carers are all different, but what they have in common is the desire to provide safe and nurturing homes for children and young people who are unable to live in their own homes.
“People at the Carnival will have the opportunity to talk to some of our carers from the LGBTIQ community about their real experiences of being a foster carer. They can find out about the different types of foster care, our comprehensive training, the 24-hour support available and hear firsthand about the process of becoming a foster carer.
“We’re also launching our new fridge magnets, designed especially for Midsumma. Inspired by the story of Sea Life Sydney Aquarium’s same sex penguin foster carers late last year, we have the cutest graphic of foster carer penguins. The magnets also display our contact information, so that people who have been inspired to think about foster care can talk to our Recruitment Consultants to help them decide if foster care is right for them.”
If you’re attending the Midsumma Carnival, come along to our Stall in the Green area, where we will be available from 11am to 5pm.
