August 2025 Central North Caregiver News

Kia ora e hoa mā, hello friends,

How great was it to celebrate another year in June with Matariki mā Puanga?

I was lucky enough to meet some of our South Auckland caregiver members at a celebratory dinner and discussion session exploring how we can celebrate Matariki at home with our tamariki. We enjoyed delicious hāngī with cheesecake for dessert, followed by reflection and kōrero.

Hearing everyone’s learnings reminded me that celebrating Matariki doesn’t have to be a big occasion, it can be as simple as having a meal together and chatting about the stars of Matariki with younger and older learning from each other. A big thank you to Dingwall Trust for hosting us at their place for the evening.

training

Have you checked out our self-directed training yet? I recently completed the How our Past Shapes Parenting course – it’s a good one for helping us reflect on the values we bring to parenting and how we communicate. If you’re looking for help on how to encourage your kids to feel valued and understood through the relationship they have with you, this training topic might be a good starting point for you.

Caregiving 101 withdrawn

You may be aware that we were expecting to release Caregiving 101 this month. This training has been temporarily withdrawn to ensure it gives you all the tools you need when beginning your caregiving journey.

If you have already registered for Caregiving 101, please know that you will be the first to know when it becomes available. We apologise for this inconvenience, but we really want to make sure Caregiving 101 is right for you. If you have any questions, please email training@caringfamilies.org.nz

New course available

National Care Standards Part 2: Supporting the wellbeing, development and education of children and young people in care – now sits alongside Parts 1 and 3 of our National Care Standards training.

As is the case with all our self-directed online training, National Care Standards Part 2 can be completed online at a time and date that suits you. However, if you’d like to get underway this month, please make sure you register by midday Wednesday 6 August 2025. Too busy? Don’t worry – you can select a start date for later in the year, instead.

Click below to learn more about our full range of self-directed courses.

EVENTS

We have no upcoming events this month but watch this space for registrations for Family Fun Day events in my next update to you.

support

We have the following active support groups around the region:

Hamilton Support Group

Franklin Foster Carers Association (meets in Pukekohe)

Rotorua Support Group

The first meeting for this support group will be held on Wednesday 20 August, 10.30am-12.30pm. Please contact Christie for venue details: centralnorth@caringfamilies.org.nz

CENTRAL NORTH REGIONAL PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP

On 21 July we posted in the Facebook group that I would be doing a tidy up of our group members, as I had noticed that quite a few members of this Facebook Group did not live in our member region. (This region falls between, south of Port Waikato and Te Kauwhata – all the way down to, and including, Taupō.)

Those members outside of this region have now been removed from the group. As I suggested previously, our other Facebook Groups that you could join are:

• Caring Families Aotearoa Auckland South Regional Private Facebook Group
  We have another group for our Auckland South members, which covers Manukau and the towns south to (and including) Port Waikato and Te Kauwhata. If you live in this region, please leave the Central North group and hop on over to our Auckland South Support Group by clicking here: Caring Families Aotearoa Auckland South Support | Facebook
• Caring Families Aotearoa North East Regional Private Facebook Group
  If you live in the Coromandel, Tauranga, Opotiki or along the East Coast down to (and including) Gisborne, please leave our Central North group and join our North East Support Group by clicking here: Caring Families Aotearoa North East Support | Facebook. The lovely Nyvonne Krause is our Regional Coordinator for North East, and she will accept your request to join straight away.

YOUR CONTACT DETAILS

Has your contact information changed recently?

If you have changed addresses, mobile numbers or have become a permanent caregiver (after previously being supported by an agency like Oranga Tamariki or Open Home Foundation) in the past few years, please drop me a quick note to update your details.  All of this helps us connect with you better across the region, so thanks in advance for your help with this. Email centralnorth@caringfamilies.org.nz

Regional Coordinator Support

If you need someone to talk to feel free to connect with me, you can call/text me on 027 501 0393 or reach out via email to centralnorth@caringfamilies.org.nz

My hours of work are 9am – 5pm (Monday to Thursday) and 9am-2:30pm (Friday).

I look forward to hearing from you.

Tiaki i a koutou anō, look after yourselves!

Christie