ENSURING children experience safety, love and stability to thrive has been a lifelong commitment for Murraylands mother Niki Borchardt.
In addition to raising her own children, she has provided a foster home with her husband for young people in need of care before joining the ac.care staff team as a key support worker for other carers.
“The rewards have always absolutely outweighed the challenges, knowing that even if you only cared for a child for a week, you were making a difference,” she said.
“I had one little boy with me who couldn’t sleep in a bed and couldn’t listen to a story, but within a week of good routine, support, love and care was happy to go to bed and could actually sit and enjoy a story.”
The Borchardts first became foster carers when they decided to welcome children into their Murraylands home in addition to their five sons.
“There were three main children we had for longer periods and then lots of other kids coming and going,” Niki said, explaining children loved the freedom of their farm environment, collecting eggs from the chickens and checking on cows and sheep on the property.
“Overall, it was just like having extra siblings in the house,” Niki explained.
“We were already used to footy on the weekends – it’s just what we all did – and it was just another child to tag along – there’s just so many children out there that need that … just love and support.”
Despite the reward of seeing young people develop in her care, Niki said occasions of challenging behaviour when children struggled emotionally was at times difficult, but her ac.care case worker was always a strong support.
“Your heart breaks for the children when that’s happening, but our case worker at the time was just amazing and made such a difference to our journey, particularly when there were tricky times,” Niki said.
“She could help me to advocate for the child’s needs and be a sounding board as someone who understood children who have experienced trauma.”
Niki said training she received as a carer helped her understand the impact of trauma and other factors on children’s lives and she welcomed the opportunity to empower other foster carers today.
“You might not understand at the time how the learning as a foster carer is going to help you, but then a situation will come up and you realise you have the tool you need,” she said.
As the needs of Niki’s family changed, she moved from providing foster care to supporting those who do, joining ac.care’s team at Murray Bridge as a case worker.
“I still wanted to be a part of the system of supporting children in care to be able to support carers in the way I was supported,” she said.
“There are all sorts of ways that we support our carers and different carers have different needs.”
This support ranges from direct assistance to individuals, including a 24/7 helpline, to arranging trainings and coordinating networking opportunities, such as coffee gathering and events at Easter and Christmas to bring carers together to support one another.
“We love celebrating carers and the wonderful job they do,” Niki said.
She encouraged people who had considered becoming foster carers to learn more and take the next step.
“With the training and support you receive along the way, it’s well worth doing,” she said, explaining caring opportunities could be matched with people’s lifestyles, from long-term to offering respite at weekends, and with children of ages that match capacity of carer households.
“It’s absolutely worth doing and makes such a difference for children,” she said.
“We need lots more foster carers so children can experience family-based care in loving homes with lots of support around them – it’s enriching and rewarding no matter which type of care you provide.”
Find out more by filling out the form below, calling 1300 ACCARE (1300 222 274), emailing care@accare.org.au or dropping in to ac.care’s offices in Murray Bridge, Berri or Mount Gambier.
