With boundless love and vast reserves of energy, Fay Alford puts the welfare and wellbeing of children at the centre of all that she does.  Fay and her husband David have fostered close to 90 vulnerable children over the last three decades while raising their two biological daughters.  They have adopted two foster children, and a third chose to adopt the Alfords when she turned 18.  Fay and David are still fostering today raising their now six-year-old granddaughter who they have cared for since birth.  A member of the Foster Care Association since 1987, its President-Elect from 2001 and Director from 2009, Fay provides support and advocacy to foster carers throughout the state of Western Australia.

Fay is an advisor to the minister of Child Protection and the Assistant Director-General of the Department of Communities; Fay is the public face of fostering in WA; a guest speaker at conferences and community events; and a key figure in the training, panelling and recruitment of new foster carers. Fay has twice been nominated as a finalist in the Australian of the Year in 2016 and 2017 and was the recipient of the prestigious John Curtin Medal in 2018 for her recognised qualities of vision, leadership and significant and ongoing service to the community. In 2020, Fay was awarded the prestigious Order Of Australia Medal for her exemplary service to children over the years.

Julie grew up in a small country town in the Wheatbelt which is where her love of people, community, team sports and volunteering stems from.

Julie has managed offices in both the travel and building industries which involved finding creative solutions to connect people from different backgrounds.

When not working or travelling, Julie enjoys spending time with her two grandchildren, family & friends, watching sports and spending time in nature.

Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Social Work and began her career with the Department for Child Protection in 2001. During her 16 years with the Department, Rebecca gained experience as a Case Manager and senior in various teams. It was during this time, that she found her passion in supporting foster families and for the most part, worked within placement services at a District level.

Rebecca joined the Foster Care Association of WA in 2017 as a Senior Social Worker, Advocacy and Support Officer. This role has seen her expand on her skills in working alongside foster families, advocating for their rights, and ensuring that they feel valued and heard. This position has also enabled Rebecca to work alongside the Department and Community Sector Organisations, as well as provide opportunities to engage with foster families throughout Western Australia.

Rebecca strives to keep a balanced family and work life, loves spending time outdoors, and enjoys watching her three children play sport and participate in various activities.

Rachel came to Social Work as a mature aged student with a full life experience and a travel wonder lust that saw her living for extended periods in the UK, Europe, Africa, and Turkey.  Rachel’s Social Work placements were in Aged Care Support (Perth WA), and Community Networking Support (Sri Lanka). Her formative employment history was in hospitality, both in Australia and overseas.

Rachel’s Social Work employment history, of over 25 years, includes Child Protection (Communities), Justice (Child Witness Service) and for the last 14 years Advocacy & Support with family and foster carers, at the Foster Care Association Inc. WA.

Rachel is a mother to a soon to turn 18 years old, gorgeous, and creative young man who is still her favourite human. Her happy space is in her garden or anywhere outdoors that is green, shady, and cool. Rachel loves the sexual and cultural diversity of her local Bayswater community and the sense of belonging it offers its residents.

Happiness for Rachel is starting each day with a great coffee!

Cassie holds a Bachelor of Social Work and commenced her career with the Department for Child Protection in 2000. She has significant experience working within the child protection and out of home care systems as a Case Manager and Placement Officer at a District level.

Cassie joined the Foster Care Association of WA in 2018 as a Senior Social Worker, Advocacy and Support Officer. She prides herself on building relationships and working in partnership with foster families. She brings a wealth of knowledge and commitment and has valuable insight into the experience of carers and the challenges that they face. Cassie has developed a strong passion for working alongside carers, advocating for their rights, and achieving optimal outcomes for their families and children in care.

Cassie is the mother of two beautiful children and enjoys the challenge of balancing work and motherhood. Her outside interests include music, sport and exploring the outdoors with her family.

Vanessa commenced her career in Social Work in Health, working in community and hospital settings alongside people living with HIV.  After living and working as a Social Worker in South Africa and London, she transitioned to the Child Protection sector in 2001 as a Case Manager at Mirrabooka District.  A passion for working with children in care and carers was quickly formed.  This passion has led her to various roles in the Department, including Specialized Fostering, before commencing her role at the Foster Care Association.  Her role involves sitting on the Foster Care Panel and providing administrative support to FCAWA Director. 

Vanessa is a Mum to two wonderful teenagers and enjoys spending time with family and friends, being outdoors, playing board games and supporting the Dockers.

Natalee joined the Foster Care Association in January 2020.   Natalee brings a unique set of skills to the role; growing up in a family where her parents were Foster Carers to many children over a span of more than 40 years, Natalee brings a very personal understanding of the needs and concerns faced by many Foster Carers. 

Natalee is a practical and down-to-earth person who has real, everyday experience which comes to the fore when supporting Carers.  Natalee loves her role which involves meeting with Carers and supporting them through the challenges and rewards of their fostering journey.

Kim has worked with families for over 25 years and has been a Carer Family Support Worker for the Foster Care Association since this new role was created in 2020.

With a strong background in Children’s, Youth, and Community Services, Kim is dedicated to delivering valid, appropriate and holistic services that resonate with the families she works with on an individual level. She believes in meeting people where they are, early intervention, trauma-informed care, and using strengths-based approaches to enhance family life. She feels incredibly privileged to be able to connect, share in the highs and lows and personally contribute to the well-being and capacity of carers and the community.

Kim is proud to support those who care for WA’s most vulnerable children.

Freddie is a Marketing & Communications professional with many years experience in both the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. Freddie has a passion for delivering high-quality marketing material that aligns with an organisations business goals. She has a strong focus on brand awareness and is vigilant in ensuring brand equity is never compromised. Attention to detail is very important to Freddie and she will stop at nothing to ensure that a project is executed in the highest possible manner.

Freddie is extremely passionate about protecting vulnerable children and keeping families together wherever possible. Freddie and her husband David’s life changed dramatically when they discovered Freddie’s brother’s four children (who they did not know existed) had been in the foster care system for over 12 months and were about to be split up and put into four different families. Freddie and David fought relentlessly to keep the children together and overnight expanded their already significant family of six to a family of ten.

Fast forward six years and Freddie could not be more proud of the wonderful children she has helped to raise and will be forever thankful for having had the opportunity.

Dion is a mum of two, breast cancer warrior, ex-military, active member of her local community, swim teacher and taxi driver to her kids for their many after school activities.

Dion lives in Perth, ancient country of the Whadjuk Nyoongar People, Western Australia. 

Dion is passionate about kids in care and the role education plays in their life. 

Having a passion for the wellbeing of all children has led Jodi to become an Accredited Foster Carer in 2021 and hold a seat on the Board as Secretary WA Child Safety Services (WACSS) since 2019 as well as manage their online children’s resource bookshop.

WACSS is Western Australia’s only not-for-profit provider of Protective Behaviours, Online Safety, Child Protection and Teen Talk programs who work across metropolitan, regional and remote locations in WA to help create safer communities.  

With a background in Human Resources, Learning & Development and Indigenous Affairs, Jodi works for one of the largest 100% Indigenous owned Group of Companies in Australia as General Manager People & Culture, and regularly travels and works alongside the Traditional Owners of the lands and communities which has given her a first hand insight of the socio-economic challenges faced specifically with Aboriginal children.

Kate, her husband Royce and three biological children have been fostering children for short term, emergency and respite care since 2013. Kate specialises in the intensive work of supporting reunification of parents with newborns and young babies. This gives Kate the opportunity to connect with children, biological families, Department staff, support agencies and foster families. This web of people with knowledge, stories, family, strength and skills has created in Kate a passion for a strong and supportive community for all. 

With a degree in Family and Children studies, Kate has been working with children since 1994 in a variety of settings. She has been a continuous learner, taking opportunities to train in Reggio Emilia pedagogy, TCI, Neural Diversity and much more. More recently, she has been trained as a data analyst and works part time in this capacity. 

Kate is dedicated to supporting foster families, with an emphasis on connection, building relevant knowledge and creating more moments that make being a foster family wonderful and fulfilling.

Having moved to Australia in 2007 with their adopted son, Nigel and his wife, Keri, began their fostering journey.  Along with some short term placements and provision of respite care, Nigel and Keri have been fortunate to have two foster children for the last 12 years and have supported their growth and encouraged their reconnection to birth family.

Nigel spent the majority of his early career in the Lloyd’s insurance markets, being Agency and Compliance Manager for a large Company and also became the Operations Manager for a Medical Screening company in Europe.  Having moved to Perth, Nigel started working as a Finance Broker and is now the Operations Manager for a Broking company which has an Australia wide presence.

Outside of work, Nigel and the family enjoy their time with their numerous animals. Nigel has been involved with the Board of The Boomerang Association of WA (where the children have been State Champions) promoting and assisting with their events.  Nigel has also had a number of years playing Senior AFL for the Central Crocs.

Nigel is involved with Second Bite food collections and is passionate about understanding the cultural history of Australia to ensure that the children in his care are connected to it. 

The family have used the support of the FCAWA over the years when advocacy was needed. 

Nigel is very passionate about the rights, or lack of them, for Foster Carers and the children in their care and has invested time and effort to research and understand a lot of the framework and regulations under which they operate and how this impacts on their ability to provide the best possible outcomes for the future generations.