SuCo Supervised Contact Services is raising money for Christmas presents for children in foster care to try and spread some joy after such a challenging year.
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Paulette Sewell and her business partner Claire Behi want to help brighten the festive season for children in foster care and show how, along with their host families, there are other people in the Illawarra community who care.
SuCo has launched a GoFundMe page where people can make donations to help spread some Christmas cheer.
Ms Sewell said staff and management at SuCo have chosen to donate to the cause instead of buying gifts for each other this Christmas.
"We all want to do something nice for the kids," she said.
Ms Sewell said there is also a need for more foster carers in the region.
"This year families have been under a lot of stress. We have been incredibly busy during COVID-19. We have such a lack of carers in the Illawarra. If anybody wants to look into being a carer we can point them in the right direction."
Ms Sewell said 2020 had negatively impacted so many families.
"After a year like we have all had it shows us how fragile life actually is. Let alone how it would feel for kids in care," she said.
SuCo runs supervised contact services for people who are not allowed to see their kids unless supervised.
"We look after children and families in relation to family law matters when the judge has said the father or the mother have to have supervised contact," Ms Sewell said.
"Our main clients are DCJ offices who use us for supervised care contact, mentoring, carer support and emergency care when children haven't got anywhere to live. We cater for anything to do with children and families but our main work is supervised contact. And we provide support for the court to show whether mum or dad have the capacity to manage the children and meet all their needs."
Ms Sewell said through such work she saw the need to spread some Christmas cheer.
"We have already bought and distributed $3000 worth of presents. I promised the donors their money wouldn't go anywhere else except on presents," she said.
"I am now hoping we can raise more so I can get gift vouchers for the older children just so they have something to open on Christmas Day and know someone is thinking about them. There are children 15, 16 and 17 in care as well."
Ms Sewell said people in the community can really make an impact and enjoy the gift of giving even if they can only make a small donation after such a challenging year.
She said the gifts were being distributed through the Wollongong Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) office and her goal is to involve more offices in future.
A delivery she made to DCJ earlier this week was so well received Ms Sewell is eager to do another fundraiser next year.
"They were so appreciative," she said.
Donations can be made on the GoFundMe link.
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Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
