New South Wales has recruited over 300 specialist workers to accompany foster children during supervised visits with their birth families. The program aims to create positive memories through activities like picnics and theme park visits. Kylie Stone, a former foster child herself, now works as one such Family Time supervisor, helping build connections and ease the impact of separation for kids in care. Recruitment also emphasizes cultural matching; nearly 20% of new hires identify as Aboriginal, reflecting a focus on supporting Indigenous kinship relationships.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
In short:
NSW's approach to foster care supervised visits has been revamped with new specialist workers.
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approach → supervise → workers
Family Time helps kids build connections with their birth families, and ease the impact of separation.
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kids → help → separation
Parents and children will now catch-up at "beautiful venues" like parks or ice skating rinks to create "positive memories".
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Parents → catch → memories
Thousands of children in foster care are improving ties with their birth families, as part of an overhauled supervision system in New South Wales.
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Thousands → improve → Wales
More than 300 specialist workers have now been recruited by the Department of Communities and Justice to accompany children on supervised family visits.
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workers → recruit → visits
These Family Time visits can vary widely in setting — from picnics and sports events, to theme parks and zoos.
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visits → vary → parks
Kylie Stone is among the recent recruits, whose own childhood experience of family separation motivated her to join the team.
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experience → motivate → team
She grew up in outer-western Sydney, where her father grappled with addiction and went to prison when she was aged 11.
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she → grow → prison
"I just remember waiting for all my letters to come or waiting for phone calls and wanting to go and see my dad," she said.
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she → remember → dad
Now, Ms Stone is determined to make a difference to other families' lives in her old neighbourhood.
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Stone → make → neighbourhood
One of her proudest moments in the job involved a young mother and her child who had been removed from her care while she sought treatment for an addiction.
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she → involve → addiction
"I started working with her when her baby was three months old.
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baby → start → her
We shared her first Easter, her first birthday, her first Christmas together,"she said.
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We → share → Easter
"There were days that she did struggle and she's like, 'I don't know if I can do this', and she's actually now gone through final orders and she's getting her little girl back.
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she → be → girl
"Honestly, it gives me goosebumps."
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it → give → goosebumps
Ms Stone acknowledges while permanent family reunification is not always feasible, supervised contact provides a "safe place" to build connections and ease the impact of separation.
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contact → acknowledge → separation
Supervised family visits have long been a feature of the state's foster care system, but previously they were run by caseworkers in the private sector.
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they → run → sector
It was a system that Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington argued was plagued by poor training and a high staff turnover, which would often make it a distressing experience.
"When a different person was turning up to their door every single time, they didn't know the child, they didn't know the families,"she said.
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they → argue → families,"she
Ms Washington said bringing the program in-house had ensured there was rigorous oversight and training of workers.
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bringing → say → workers
There is also a strong focus on making sure Family Time workers are culturally-matched, and to date, almost 20 per cent of the team identifies as Aboriginal.
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cent → be → team
Growing focus on Aboriginal kinships
One of the new program officers is Cody McGrady Miller, a Gomeroi and Wonnurua man who was 12 years old when he was removed from his mother's care by caseworkers and police.
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he → grow → caseworkers
He and his sister were placed in the care of his great-aunty in south-west Sydney, and said the turnover of casework teams "make it really difficult".
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it → place → teams
"Back then, there was not much understanding around Aboriginal kinship systems and the way in which our communities support children," he said.
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he → be → children
Now he works with the Family Time team in Tamworth, and has led efforts to ensure supervised visits are culturally appropriate.
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visits → work → efforts
"For us as Aboriginal people, I think that connection is one of the most significant parts of culture, and with the lived experience, I feel like that I can really contribute to ensuring that there's a better experience for children and young people in care," he said.
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he → think → care
Building a 'legacy' for families
Supervisors typically write detailed reports after each visit, which is often used for family law or court proceedings.
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which → build → law
But Nicholle Andreuzza from the Department of Communities and Justice said there had been a move away from the "clinical" approach to supervising family visits.
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Andreuzza → say → visits
"What we're seeing now is beautiful venues," Ms Andreuzza said.
"We're seeing kids and mum and dad at soccer fields with the support of their Family Time work, we're seeing kids having experiences like ice skating, we do some visits in home when safe to do so."
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we → see → home
Ms Andreuzza said the Family Time workers also played an important "legacy" role, by taking pictures during the visits.
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workers → say → visits
"So for kids when they get older … they're able to look at photographs and look at all of the positive moments that they've had with their mums, dads, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties," she said.
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she → get → aunties
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