ARK Aust.

ARK is a movement: A network of communities dedicated to providing family and belonging to vulnerable kids.

Families in the ark network gather together in local community to find and provide support for each other. An ARK community has families involved in foster care, permanent care, respite care and/or adoption, all with the desire to show these kids belonging, unconditional love, new hope and a brighter future.

In Australia the out of home care system is at breaking point.

We seek to be an answer, raising awareness of the need for brilliant families to step into the care of these precious kids, and to provide stable support for those who choose to step up. We want to see families who engage in out-of-home care succeeding, thriving, persevering and raising kids who are well equipped for adulthood.

Children are the most vulnerable in any culture

They are devoid of the power to affect their own circumstances, and by design, require someone to care for them, to advocate for them and to respond to their most basic of needs. For most, that care comes in the form of a parent, but unfortunately for some, their parent figure is not on hand. Families in the ARK network have chosen to respond to the needs of those children, through either adoption or foster care.

Responding is not easy. It requires great sacrifice. It requires considering the need of others above our own desires. It requires understanding that we may be a child’s only hope of succeeding in life. It requires compassion for kids who have found themselves in circumstances they didn’t choose, and being prepared to do something practical about that. It requires love. It requires grace. It requires pain, but it brings great reward and fulfilment.

At ARK we are extended family. We ‘do life’ together and encourage each other through the inevitable difficulties and challenges that we face as we support the kids who are placed with us. We are not an agency to arrange placements, but rather we support each other, pray for each other, lean on each other and learn from each other as we live our lives together.