Welcome to our Family-
Fostering and Adoption Ceremonies
Welcoming a baby, child or young person into your family is a momentous occasion that deserves celebration and sends a clear message of inclusion to everyone involved. It is also a wonderful chance to make known to the world that your family has evolved and has grown to include a new member.
Inclusions in the ceremony are as varied as your imagination. Perhaps you would like to have a new family portrait created or unveiled or create a welcome banner for the child’s room and have everyone present write a wish for the child’s life to go in a love jar for their 21st birthday. Maybe you’d like to give symbolic gifts to the child. There are so many ways to make the ceremony special and unique and Margie is here to help you craft something that will welcome the child in a fitting way.
Margie’s Promises for your welcoming Fostering or Adoption Ceremony
Your ceremony will be filled with promises you make to your new family member- but for now, I have four promises to make with you.
1. I promise to provide you all with a professional service that will delight you and make both the ceremony preparations and the day feel special.
2. I promise you a ceremony that reflects who you are as a family.
3. I promise you a ceremony that is filled with the love and joy you share.
4.I promise you a ceremony that is meaningful, memorable and magical.
Giving Back
It is widely acknowledged that our systems for adoption are broken in Australia- slow, difficult, expensive and inaccessible. At the age of 18, I had to have a hysterectomy and was told that I would never be able to have children of my own. Being a caring and nurturing person, this was heart breaking and after marrying, I joined the long Adoption Waiting List. After years on the list, we were advised that the system had changed again and the list was now a database and that there were more willing parents than there were babies.
Despite this, there are children in Australia and around the world who are not having their physical needs met adequately and are unloved. We also have wards of the state living in group home institutions all around our country, with children and teenagers desperate for love and security. The system is broken and the options for adoption and the support for fostering needs massive improvement.
This is something I am passionate about, so one of the charities I look forward to supporting is Barnardos Australia to further their work with The Centre for Excellence in Open Adoption as they work to provide a framework for research, advocacy and practice development in open adoption. The Centre aims to inform and educate governments, welfare professionals and the community about the importance of open adoption for non-Aboriginal children who have been permanently removed by the courts due to abuse and neglect. The Centre also provides information to lawyers, courts, caseworkers and out-of-home care managers about the importance of open adoption to children and young people to create a family for life.
You can learn more about Barnardo’s Australia by visiting
Professional Associations
