Our People
Staff Team
Fiona Endacott has a Bachelor of Social Work, a Double Advanced Diploma in Management and Human Resources, a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration and is currently completing her MBA. Her work history is also impressive - having come to CF&KC-SA after a long stint working in mental health, most recently as Manager: Operations for Skylight Mental Health.
Fiona has already made her mark on our organisation – having worked on our winning tender, achieved our quality accreditation and established and managed our very committed advocacy team. She is a mother of two and deeply committed to the wellbeing of children and Carers.
Sharee joined the CF&KC-SA team in September 2020 as Senior Advocate.
Sharee joins us with 20 years of experience within the community sector and in the final stages of completion of a Bachelor of Social Work. Sharee's extensive career started in the early childhood sector as a Team Leader, and as an educator in the education sector with Tafe SA and Gowrie SA. Sharee has worked in the Department of Child Protection, and for the past six years has been the Practice Lead at Time for Kids.
Sharee prides herself on building relationships and working in partnership with children and families towards achieving optimal outcomes.
Sharee brings a wealth of knowledge, commitment, energy and passion, in particular for children and families, and we are excited to have her join the team.
Sharee is a mother of two girls and has a love for their 3 dogs whom she also sees as her four legged children.
Isabella joined CF&KC-SA as a Carer Advocate in July 2021, supporting both foster and kinship carers. Isabella has completed her Bachelor of Social Work with experience working in this space as she completed her university placements with the organisation. Her time during placements gave her experience working with foster and kinship Carers giving insight to Carer experiences and understanding the diverse challenges they can face. Isabella was offered the 6 month role of Carer Education Officer in June 2020 to develop and publish educational resources for the Carer community. Through this role Isabella developed strengths in facilitating reference groups, organising Carer information session and publishing Carer guides. Through her time with the organisation, her passion has continually grown and is excited to now be fulfilling the role as Carer Advocate.
Chloe commenced as Carer Advocate in January 2024
Chloe's journey into foster and kinship care began during her university placement at CF&KC-SA in July 2023. Chloe holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of South Australia. With experience in project management and business development, she brings a fresh perspective to her role as a Carer Advocate. Chloe is passionate about upholding justice and advocating the rights of Carers and their families. She is grateful and excited for the opportunity to make a positive impact in this field.
Niamh joined CF&KC-SA as a Carer Advocate in March 2024. Niamh is currently in the final year of her Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice (Honours) at Flinders University and is completing her Honours thesis in the Child Protection and Family Law space.
Niamh first met the CF&KC-SA team in 2021 at our first Child Protection & the Law Professional Development day which she attended as a student. She subsequently volunteered with us in 2022, providing legal research and writing assistance for our submission to the Independent Inquiry into Foster & Kinship Care in South Australia.
Being part of a family that Cares and a proud big sister of four wonderful young people, she is passionate about providing support and advocacy to Foster and Kinship Carers and ensuring that the Statement of Commitment is upheld by all. With her legal education background, Niamh is proud of the work CF&KC-SA continue to do to enact systemic changes for the benefit of all young people in Care, and their families
Natalie joined CF&KC-SA in December 2016 as Administration and Events Coordinator.
Natalie is experienced working in key administrative roles in health, research and University sectors and also event management, including key organiser of the International Conference on Community Health Research in 2009. A mother of two, she is an enthusiastic and active member of school Governing Council and Parents & Friends Committee. Natalie enjoys interacting with families and the community and is excited to apply her skills and knowledge to her role with CF&KC-SA.
We welcome Lauren to the team, who commenced her role as Carer Council Project Lead in October 2023.
Lauren's fostering journey started when she was eighteen and her parents became foster carers. Many years later, Lauren is now a specialist foster carer herself and a carer member of CF&KC-SA.
Lauren has a Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice, a Bachelor of International Relations, a Bachelor of Letters (Spanish), and a Diploma of Community Services Work.
Prior to joining CF&KC-SA, Lauren was working as a lawyer with a social justice focus. She also has experience across the community services sector in aged care, disability and youth work. Notably, Lauren has experience as a youth worker with children in residential and emergency care and has worked at a primary school in Spain as an English language assistant.
Emma joined CF&KC-SA as a research intern in March 2021, taking on employment as the Project Officer in January 2022. As an intern, Emma conducted a research report on the monetary cost of foster and kinship caring to carers in SA. Her role later progressed to Project Officer & Inquiry Support Officer to help carers make submissions during the 2022 Independent Inquiry into Foster and Kinship Care.
As Project Officer, Emma supports CF&KC-SA to execute systemic advocacy by (for example) identifying inquiries and making submissions, running reference groups, ensuring survey data is fit for purpose and representative of the foster and kinship carer community in SA, and applying for grants to assist with operational objectives.
Emma holds qualifications in youth work, and a Bachelor of Social Sciences, bringing with her perspectives from being employed as a research assistant in The University of Adelaide’s School of Social Sciences, and Law School, and a volunteer youth worker in the community services sector both locally and abroad. Emma is passionate about continuing to learn, analyse, and explore ways we can address social inequality both in theory and practice.
“Our foster and kinship families are, unfortunately, an example of a vulnerable demographic that are overlooked when it comes to policy and legislation that would otherwise protect their rights. Collectively, carers are marginalised and under-resourced, so whatever the project may be, I really hope that my contribution helps to improve conditions for these families.”
Matt holds a BSc and is currently a PhD candidate (science), bringing a data driven approach to our work in systemic advocacy.
Matt started volunteering with CF&KC-SA in early 2023, working on systemic issues connected to Carer mental health and wellbeing. In October 2023 Matt then joined us as a Project Officer, and has since specialised in topics and issues surrounding Carer remuneration, attraction, and retention.
Matt is passionate about ensuring Carers are fairly treated and compensated for their caring role, and is especially interested in realising superannuation support for all Carers.
Introducing Rebecca Smith, our inaugural foster carer research Masters student in residence!
Rebecca has accepted our invitation to take up “residence” in our office and we are delighted to support her vital research Masters project that will most certainly benefit the SA family based carer community in the near future.
My name is Rebecca Smith
I have been an occupational therapist for over 20 years working in community health, education and disability sectors. I have done some work in aged care and mental health, but primarily worked in paediatrics (i.e. working with children and their families). In this work I frequently supported children and families involved in the child protection system.
I have also been a registered foster carer for over 15 years. I started as a respite carer and have continued this at various times throughout being a carer. I have been a long-term carer for 15 years for a young woman who has now aged out of the system, but is still in my care. I am now returning to being a respite carer.
I have recently started a part-time research Masters at the University of South Australia (Uni SA) where my project is: "Exploration of current practices supporting foster carers using play as a therapeutic tool with children in their care." This project has two phases. As this is an area that currently hasn't been well researched, the first phase of my project is to do a scoping review to explore the current literature regarding the use of therapeutic play with children in foster care in order to identify gaps and reported benefits. The second phase will involve running focus groups with some of the foster care support agencies to explore current practices, barriers and opportunities for the use of therapeutic play. At this stage I will be working on phase 1 in 2024 and phase 2 in 2025.
While I am doing this research I am going to be basing myself at the CF&KC-SA office one day a fortnight.
Board
Holly Veale joined the CF&KC-SA Board in July 2022
Holly Veale is a barrister at Jeffcott Chambers in Adelaide who practices predominately in administrative, civil and commercial law.
Holly’s first exposure to the Child Protection System was via her role in the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission.
Thereafter, she appeared in the Youth Court on numerous Care and Protection Matters, predominately acting for children. In 2017, Holly acted for a foster family who managed to intervene in a Supreme Court appeal regarding a child in their care. This demonstrated to Holly the lack of voice which carers had within the system and the need for their voice to be heard. She hopes her legal and advocacy skills will assist CF&KC-SA to ensure carers rights are understood and respected.
Outside of the law, Holly is the proud mother of two young boys and, when she isn’t acting as a taxi service to her kids, enjoys cooking and a good book.
Kelly is a current Kinship carer and has been so since 2015. She has always been involved in business taking on various roles in family business since she was very young. Upon graduating from university with degrees in both Business and Marketing, she pursued a career in Valuations practicing at senior management level for a number of years. Kelly has since moved to her own business with her husband, providing services to the poultry industry with a large staff and busy lifestyle. With four children in the family, Kelly engages in a busy and fulfilling life. She joined the board of CF&KC-SA in November 2017 after being an active member throughout 2017. After seeing first hand the effects on children in out of home care, Kelly has become very passionate about promoting change in the system to enable better outcomes for all involved.
Ben Haynes joined the CF&KC-SA Board in August 2022
Ben has been a Financial Adviser since 2009. He has been running his own practice since 2017 working with clients and businesses to manage and improve their financial wellbeing. Ben has a Bachelor of Finance from Adelaide University, Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning and holds the Certified Financial Planner designation.
Ben is married with 2 biological children. Ben and his wife are also Foster Carers and have had a foster child in their care since she was the age of 3 weeks.
Tara joined the CF&KC-SA Board in October 2023.
Tara is the Kinship Assessment Practitioner at KWY Aboriginal Corporation. She loves to sit with families and hear their stories, whilst also ensuring the Aboriginal Placement Principle is upheld for children who enter the care of family through child protection orders. Working for an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation has been empowering as it has allowed Tara to champion her values, in the areas of strength-based approach and anti-oppressive practice, as well as being trauma responsive. Before KWY Tara undertook her first placement in Baptist Care Eastern Adelaide Aboriginal Specific Homelessness team and was fortunate to gain employment at the end of that placement. Her second placement was with the Wali Wiru team at Housing SA, which also provided incredible learning opportunities. Before graduating from a Master’s in social work, Tara completed an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and worked as a swim school coordinator
Tara is mum to three wonderful babies, who came to her through kinship and foster care as well as two biological young adults Tara's husband is her biggest cheerleader and she is so grateful to be on this adventure called life with him.
Dr Damien Riggs joined the CF&KC-SA Board in March 2023. Damien is a professor in psychology at Flinders University, a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society, and a psychotherapist who specialises in working with trans children. He is the author of over 200 publications on gender, family and mental health. Damien is also a foster parent to five children.
Danielle joined the CF&KC-SA Board in October 2023.
Danielle is a strategic, impact-driven communications specialist with more than two decades of experience in journalism and public relations.
During almost 10 years working in State Government, Danielle played a pivotal role in delivering communications for some of South Australia’s most significant announcements and events with a focus on areas including child protection, mental health, disability, youth justice and homelessness.
With a passion for social justice, she has headed up the media and advocacy function for a national social housing provider and, most recently, was Executive Manager, Marketing and Communications for a leading social enterprise.
Danielle has served for more than three years on the board of a local private school and volunteered for a range of committees and services.
Rob joined the CF&KC-SA Board in October 2023.
Rob is an experienced Non-Executive Director and Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Rob has previously served as Board Chair of Linking Futures group of companies, including an Aboriginal owned market leading consultancy. Rob is a former Operations Executive with automotive production management and water industry experience in both North America and Australia, with particular interests in governance, risk, and financial and non-financial performance reporting. Rob brings to the CF&KC-SA Board extensive Operations leadership experience from the water sector: as COO of Suez Environnement’s North American operations, and as EGM in Queensland and South Australian water utilities. Combined with his senior production management experience at General Motors, Rob is well versed in the challenges of technically diverse and geographically dispersed workforces. With a particular passion for generating organisational culture and employee engagement uplift, Rob has a strong focus on safety, innovation and delivering the best possible outcomes for staff. Rob is a proven champion of diversity, leading teams through transformational change, sparking cultural revolutions at all organisational levels, delivering greater accountability and commerciality.
Dannielle joined the CF&KC-SA Board in September 2024.
Dannielle is a dedicated educator and community services advocate, with a focus on inclusive and innovative practices.
Being a kinship carer drives her passion for creating better outcomes for children and carers in the foster and kinship care system.
Dannielle is a proud graduate of the Diploma in Community Services program supported by CF&KC-SA and the Bradford Institute of Advanced Education. Dannielle also completed a Certified Community Director course from the Institute of Community Directors Australia, further strengthening her leadership skills and deepening her commitment to fostering positive change within the child protection space.
Dannielle holds a Bachelor of Adult and Vocational Education and works at TAFE SA where she leads innovative educational change and staff development across diverse sectors. Her role focuses on change management, driving organisational improvement, and embedding inclusive practices across educational programs.
In addition to her work in education, Dannielle operates a design agency with her partner and has extensive experience in creative industries, including photography, graphic design, and web development. Her design experience brings a unique perspective to problem-solving, blending creativity with strategic thinking.
Proudly autistic and living with ADHD, Dannielle incorporates her lived experience into all areas of her professional and personal life. She loves spending time with her family which includes a wonderfully supportive partner, her stepson, her biological son, and her nephew. She also enjoys dancing, lifelong learning, and cooking (mostly eating), as well as caring for her pets: two whippets, a cat, and a sun conure.
Life Membership
We are proud to honour the following previous Board Members for their commitment, support and dedication to the progress of Connecting Foster & Kinship Carers SA:
- Megan Hender - Chairperson (to November 2022)
- Donna Scott - Vice Chairperson (to November 2019)
- Jo Jarvis - Chairperson (to November 2018)