The Wishing Well foundation – the many ways we can help children heal
The Wishing Well Foundation was established to provide traumatised children and young people in out-of-home care with the therapies and services they might require in order to heal themselves. Most, if not all, children and young people living in out-of-home care arrangements have suffered trauma. This may have been abuse and/or neglect prior to their removal from their family of origin and/or other subsequent trauma including that associated with a multiple placement history. The future for many of these children is bleak. Well-documented research identifies an inability to maintain relationships, poor education achievement, criminal involvement, mental health problems and high levels of addiction/substance abuse as just some of the likely adverse outcomes for these children and young people.
We offer a number of healing therapies and appropriate therapy interventions to these children and young people so that they can recover from the trauma, abuse and neglect they have suffered and have the opportunity for happy and productive lives. We take referrals for any child/young person in out-of-home care in NSW, and applications are assessed by qualified personnel and on a case-by-case basis.
Our therapies include, but are not limited to;
Art Therapy, Play Therapy, Massage Therapy, Music Therapy, Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, Educational Support, Tutoring & Remedial Work, Heal For Life Camps, Counselling & Nutritional Guidance. Click here for more information on each form of therapy we offer.
The Wishing Well foundation
The Wishing Well was established in 2010 to offer children in out-of-home care, such as foster care and residential care, a range of healing and treatment options usually not accessible as a free therapy in mainstream health.
The Wishing Well raises funds to enable children and young people to access developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments shown to be highly effective in dealing with severe trauma and neglect. These therapies respond to the unique needs of each child and young person.
The Wishing Well is a not-for-profit incorporated charity organisation, established and managed by people seeking to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care and their families. The Wishing Well recognises the importance of the act of giving. We recognise the significance of the participation of community members and all donations are most appreciated.
The Wishing Well operates ethically, effectively and empathically with a view to achieving quality outcomes and a satisfying working environment.
Support the Wishing Well
The Wishing Well uses its funds to help children in need access all manners of developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments. The Wishing Well takes referrals for any child/young person in out-of-home care in NSW. Applications are assessed by qualified personnel and on a case-by-case basis. The decision to fund an application is affected by the following:
- Funding availability
- The support the child/young person has to access the proposed therapies
- The capacity and willingness of the Carer Household to support the child/young person
- Assessment, which recommends and supports the proposed therapy as relevant to meeting the particular needs of the child/young person
The Wishing Well gratefully receives donations, funding and resources through bequests, corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and other fund raising activities. Money donated to The Wishing Well enables traumatised children access to healing therapies. Please see our website for more information:
The Wishing Well foundation – fulfilling wishes, holistic healing
You may be wondering about The Wishing Well Foundation and what it is that we actually do. The Wishing Well Foundation was established in 2010 to fund therapy and other remedial services for traumatised children and young people in the Child Protection Sector. This includes children and young people that are currently within the foster care industry, in foster and residential care. These children have often suffered serious trauma, abuse and neglect and they may not be receiving the therapies they require.
Our Foundation aims to provide these therapies as they are needed. We are able to offer a range of holisitc healing and treatment options not available to them in the mainstream, including art therapy, play therapy, massage therapy, equine-assisted psychotherapy, educational support, tutoring and remedial work, heal for life camps and nutritional guidance.
We raise our funds from sources which include corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and through fund raising activities at community events. Without the generous donations from the public and our sponsors, The Wishing Well would not be able to fund the variety of treatment options available to help children heal from abuse and trauma.
Our board members share a passionate commitment to assist these children to receive targeted and effective therapies and services, and we sincerely thank those community members who join with us in assisting the most vulnerable children and young people in our community.
The Wishing Well foundation
The Wishing Well was established in 2010 to offer children in out-of-home care, such as foster care and residential care, a range of healing and treatment options usually not accessible as a free therapy in mainstream health.
The Wishing Well raises funds to enable children and young people to access developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments shown to be highly effective in dealing with severe trauma and neglect. These therapies respond to the unique needs of each child and young person.
The Wishing Well is a not-for-profit incorporated charity organisation, established and managed by people seeking to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care and their families. The Wishing Well recognises the importance of the act of giving. We recognise the significance of the participation of community members and all donations are most appreciated.
The Wishing Well operates ethically, effectively and empathically with a view to achieving quality outcomes and a satisfying working environment.
Support the Wishing Well
The Wishing Well uses its funds to help children in need access all manners of developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments. The Wishing Well takes referrals for any child/young person in out-of-home care in NSW. Applications are assessed by qualified personnel and on a case-by-case basis. The decision to fund an application is affected by the following:
- Funding availability
- The support the child/young person has to access the proposed therapies
- The capacity and willingness of the Carer Household to support the child/young person
- Assessment, which recommends and supports the proposed therapy as relevant to meeting the particular needs of the child/young person
The Wishing Well gratefully receives donations, funding and resources through bequests, corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and other fund raising activities. Money donated to The Wishing Well enables traumatised children access to healing therapies. Please see our website for more information:
Foster stories: One woman’s pathway to foster caring
What’s the story?
A recent article published by ABC Riverina describes one woman’s pathway to foster care, in that foster care is no quickie decision.
Janet Moriarty felt the calling toward foster care when she was just a teenager.
“I didn’t come from a wealthy background, but I came from a very loving home, and I identified that as a teenager, in high school, that other kids out there that don’t have that.” – Janet Moriarty.
Years later, the topic of foster care came up whilst Janet was undergoing a marriage prep course with her then-fiance, Paul, and the two of them committed to the idea of foster care, however, it was another ten years, after they had their own children, before they felt ready to go ahead. Even then, they took it slow – they started by taking in children for short-term care, then emergency care, and then long-term placements.
Today, Janet is calling on the next generation of carers to step up and discuss their capacity to take in a child, even decades in advance, as demand for carers increases. Another thing to consider is the burden that would be shared by the whole family.
“The trauma involved in being removed from their families, it’s just huge … Our eldest had a lot of trouble, because he couldn’t cope with the fact that he had the perfect life, and this other little man had had it so hard … He found it very difficult to cope with the burden that he’d had it so good.” – Janet Moriarty.
Janet Moriarty has some great advice about what makes a good carer, including that there are many types, but one thing that they all shared;
“A good carer is someone who can stand on the outside and look in, and see it from the children’s perspective, and also from the birth parents’ perspective … a good carer needs that belief that every child has the right to be part of a safe family.”
The Wishing Well foundation
The Wishing Well was established in 2010 to offer children in out-of-home care, such as foster care and residential care, a range of healing and treatment options usually not accessible as a free therapy in mainstream health.
The Wishing Well raises funds to enable children and young people to access developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments shown to be highly effective in dealing with severe trauma and neglect. These therapies respond to the unique needs of each child and young person.
The Wishing Well is a not-for-profit incorporated charity organisation, established and managed by people seeking to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care and their families. The Wishing Well recognises the importance of the act of giving. We recognise the significance of the participation of community members and all donations are most appreciated.
The Wishing Well operates ethically, effectively and empathically with a view to achieving quality outcomes and a satisfying working environment.
Support the Wishing Well
The Wishing Well uses its funds to help children in need access all manners of developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments. The Wishing Well takes referrals for any child/young person in out-of-home care in NSW. Applications are assessed by qualified personnel and on a case-by-case basis. The decision to fund an application is affected by the following:
- Funding availability
- The support the child/young person has to access the proposed therapies
- The capacity and willingness of the Carer Household to support the child/young person
- Assessment, which recommends and supports the proposed therapy as relevant to meeting the particular needs of the child/young person
The Wishing Well gratefully receives donations, funding and resources through bequests, corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and other fund raising activities. Money donated to The Wishing Well enables traumatised children access to healing therapies. Please see our website for more information:
News alert: Australia’s barriers to adoption
What’s the story?
The Sydney Morning Herald reports on Australian families facing long waiting periods for intercountry adoptions. An intercountry service launched last year aims to assist couples who wish to adopt a child from overseas, however, these types of adoptions have been on a steady decline. Figures released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show that intercountry adoptions have declined from 129 in 2012-13, to 83 in 2014-15, with new figures to be released next week.
The Australian Government has opened adoption programs with a number of new countries in the past year, including Poland, Bulgaria and Latvia. There was also a previously planned program with the US that will not go ahead, and an ongoing investigation into an adoption arrangement with Vietnam.
The Chief Executive from the adoption lobby group, Adopt Change, has said that adopting a child from overseas can take up to five years, and so it would take some time to measure whether the federal government’s changes were making a difference, however, foreign adoptions are currently under increasing scrutiny following accusations of child trafficking.
“There are over 40,000 children in out-of-home care yet in the 2014-15 year we only saw 209 domestic adoptions occur.” – Assistant Minister for Social Services & Multicultural Affairs, Zed Seselja.
Last year, there were fewer than 100 foster care adoptions in NSW, and just seven outside NSW. In 2014-15, only 0.5 per cent of Australian children hoping for adoption were given new families. The Department of Family and Community Services figures reveal that more than 3500 children enter out-of-home-care each year, and this has increased by 373 per cent over the past 20 years. There is now a greater need for more foster carers to enter the system, to give these children the care they need.
The Wishing Well foundation
The Wishing Well was established in 2010 to offer children in out-of-home care, such as foster care and residential care, a range of healing and treatment options usually not accessible as a free therapy in mainstream health.
The Wishing Well raises funds to enable children and young people to access developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments shown to be highly effective in dealing with severe trauma and neglect. These therapies respond to the unique needs of each child and young person.
The Wishing Well is a not-for-profit incorporated charity organisation, established and managed by people seeking to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care and their families. The Wishing Well recognises the importance of the act of giving. We recognise the significance of the participation of community members and all donations are most appreciated.
The Wishing Well operates ethically, effectively and empathically with a view to achieving quality outcomes and a satisfying working environment.
Support the Wishing Well
The Wishing Well uses its funds to help children in need access all manners of developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments. The Wishing Well takes referrals for any child/young person in out-of-home care in NSW. Applications are assessed by qualified personnel and on a case-by-case basis. The decision to fund an application is affected by the following:
- Funding availability
- The support the child/young person has to access the proposed therapies
- The capacity and willingness of the Carer Household to support the child/young person
- Assessment, which recommends and supports the proposed therapy as relevant to meeting the particular needs of the child/young person
The Wishing Well gratefully receives donations, funding and resources through bequests, corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and other fund raising activities. Money donated to The Wishing Well enables traumatised children access to healing therapies. Please see our website for more information:
The importance of counselling for children at risk – how does it work?
Abuse and traumatic events can create serious psychological problems in children at risk; problems that can include long-term consequences if they are not treated early. Children react to trauma in different ways. Their response is subjective, but may depend upon the severity of the traumatic event, the length of time the traumatic event is experienced, and whether or not help or support was offered immediately after. Abused and traumatised children often harbour feelings of pain, anger, hurt and betrayal. These problems can then develop into psychological or even physical problems such as substance abuse, personality problems, depression or PTSD, later in life. The key to helping children heal from trauma and abuse is to address their problems early on, through counselling.
Counselling sessions will help children and young people to recognise the problems associated with abuse and trauma, to help analyse the issues they face in their lives and ultimately, assist them to handle those issues in a constructive and healthy manner.
The Wishing Well works to raise money to fund applications for children and young people to seek out the counselling they may need. Counselling sessions are provided with trained counsellors that will work with the child or young person to address their problems, reconnect with their emotions, reclaim their identity and learn to trust again.
The Wishing Well foundation
The Wishing Well was established in 2010 to offer children in out-of-home care, such as foster care and residential care, a range of healing and treatment options usually not accessible as a free therapy in mainstream health.
The Wishing Well raises funds to enable children and young people to access developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments shown to be highly effective in dealing with severe trauma and neglect. These therapies respond to the unique needs of each child and young person.
The Wishing Well is a not-for-profit incorporated charity organisation, established and managed by people seeking to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care and their families. The Wishing Well recognises the importance of the act of giving. We recognise the significance of the participation of community members and all donations are most appreciated.
The Wishing Well operates ethically, effectively and empathically with a view to achieving quality outcomes and a satisfying working environment.
Support the Wishing Well
The Wishing Well uses its funds to help children in need access all manners of developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments. The Wishing Well takes referrals for any child/young person in out-of-home care in NSW. Applications are assessed by qualified personnel and on a case-by-case basis. The decision to fund an application is affected by the following:
- Funding availability
- The support the child/young person has to access the proposed therapies
- The capacity and willingness of the Carer Household to support the child/young person
- Assessment, which recommends and supports the proposed therapy as relevant to meeting the particular needs of the child/young person
The Wishing Well gratefully receives donations, funding and resources through bequests, corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and other fund raising activities. Money donated to The Wishing Well enables traumatised children access to healing therapies. Please see our website for more information:
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