Peer Support & Advocacy Team

Members of our team include

Peer Workers, Student Social Workers, and a Service Manager.

PEER WORKERS

Our peer workers have their own experiences of child protection and out-of-home (OOHC) systems. They have had children restored to their care. They are a great bunch of people. Each has their own set of stories to tell about their experiences so they are valuable for many different parents. They care a lot about the experiences of other parents and family members and they are great listeners.

Allira

I have four amazing children. My twins have been through the system and are in kinship care. I went through a lot of domestic violence and mental health. I turned my life around. It was hard but it I did it through support and understanding the ‘who’ and the ‘why’ of my situation. Most importantly, it was me understanding me. I was lost, scared and broken. Now I’m here to support other parents and family dealing with child protection matters and their children being in care because I know first hand how that feels.

Laura

I’m a mum of three children. My two eldest kids were put into care for seven years. My youngest child was never removed. While my children were in care, I did a lot of work on my mental health and parenting skills to become the parent my kids need me to be. It is because of my experiences that I want to help and support other parents to keep bonds with their children and feel supported while going through the system. I also volunteer with a chronic illness charity.

SERVICE MANAGER

Rach

I am a mother of six children who has experienced the child protection system first hand. I have been through the system and had all my children returned to my sole care. I have seen how isolating and hard the struggle is for parents trying to better themselves and understand and fix the reasons for their children’s removal. It is now my passion to help other parents in this journey and achieve better outcomes for parents and children. As the Service Manager I can use my experiences as a parent and as a peer worker to support FISH peer workers while they work with parents and family navigating the system.

STUDENT SOCIAL WORKERS

FORMER STUDENT TEAM MEMBERS

2022: Stella Flick & Sequoia Ellis, Third Year Social Work students, University of Newcastle.

2022: Jess Parr & Kelli Shaunessy, Fourth Year Social Work students, University of Newcastle. 

2023: Belle Britt & Kaylah Winterborn, Third Year Social Work students, University of Newcastle.

Our peer support and advocacy service was made possible by the

Parent Peer Support Project (PPSP)

March 2019-October 2020 (read the final report)

Our peer support and advocacy services were made possible by this funded pilot project. The FISH peer support workers started their peer support experiences with that project and now continue them with FISH.

Two other Parent Partners who were part of the PPSP and did a fantastic job were

Shantelle Common and Michael Archer.

The PPSP was supported by many practitioners and agencies in child protection, legal, and broader child and family services, as well as a wonderful, supportive project management team who remain strong FISH allies:

Lynette Stoker was the Project Coordinator and member of the PPSP management team. Lyn has experience and interest in out of home care, child welfare and child-focused practice and she is a casual lecturer at the University of Newcastle. She is also a foundation member of FISH. She has been a practitioner in health and community services, a consultant with non-government organisations, and is interested in exploring early intervention and organisational responses to support better practice.

Jessica Cocks was a founding member of FISH in 2014 and a member of the PPSP management team. She also led the original work, seeking funding for the PPSP from the Law and Justice Foundation NSW. Jessica is a researcher and practitioner in out-of-home care with over 25 years experience. In 2016, Jessica was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to research family inclusion initiatives in child welfare (read the report).

Dr Nicola Ross was the Project Manager for PPSP. Nicola is an academic who has practised as a lawyer and social worker, and undertakes sociolegal research. Her experience and research interests encompass child protection, family and criminal law with an emphasis on children’s participation, lawyers’ work with children and family violence. She has previously interviewed lawyers and children about their experiences of family, child protection and criminal proceedings.