Why become a Caregiver for tamariki and rangatahi?

Kia ora koutou,

My day job is caregiver, recruitment and support manager, leading a team of social workers, supervisors, and associated roles.
We are tasked to recruit and support potential caregivers within the Canterbury region.
Our focus is to get to know caregivers, to find out what they are passionate about, who and what type of care they want to provide for tamariki and rangatahi who desperately need it.
I have my own journey of identity and disconnection.
I was a product of a closed adoption back in the late 60s and adopted into a family where I was able to have a safe and soft place to be.
My parents were able to facilitate me to find my own identity and connection as a māori child.
As an adult and over time, I became a caregiver myself to four children that came from the care sector.
So the question becomes, why be a caregiver?
I did because I had love to give and I believed that I could provide a soft and safe place for children to be because I wanted to facilitate my children's identity and connection to this world.
I wanted them to know where they came from and have those connections to whānau, hapū and iwi at their pace and with my support.
I guess I really want to press that I am not exceptional.
I am a very ordinary person with faults and flaws.
I didn't have a particular set of skills that I could magic away, some of the trauma or some of the experiences that my children had before they came into our whānau.
The beauty of caregiver recruitment and support teams right across the country is that we are able to offer ongoing support, relevant training and to tautoko whānau and caregivers as they care for tamariki and rangatahi

We need people who have love to give. We need caregivers that believe in providing a safe and soft place to be. Simply we need you.