Jim, you’ve decided to step back from the Chair role. How are you feeling about that decision?

I feel good. It feels like the right time. I am very pleased that we have an amazing new Chairperson coming in with a lot of contacts and experience to rejuvenate the board. There are elements of sadness about backing away, but I’m perfectly happy to let somebody else do the long meetings while I follow the progress.

Looking back at the beginning, what is the first memory that pops into your head regarding the Foundation? What inspired you to set it up?

It wasn’t a single thing; it was a process, really. We started with naive enthusiasm for fostering and family-based care. Early on, Estelle told me that if we were going to go abroad, she wanted to lead it, so she led a lot of those initiatives. We randomly started in places like Perth, Australia, which everyone told us was the wrong place to start, but we did it. The beginning was pretty tough, and it was disheartening at times, but now I can see the progress we’ve made, we’ve made something solid and unique.

The core ambition has always been deinstitutionalising childcare. Why was that the specific focus?

Our ambition is massive: to deinstitutionalise childcare because children need families, not buildings. We tried to replicate the best aspects of residential care—support, therapy, and community—but within a family-based foster setting so the kids weren’t lonely. We knew that model was going to work, but it just wasn’t happening elsewhere at the time.

We’ve also engaged deeply with First Nations communities. What were the key lessons there?

The biggest lesson was humility. We went in there knowing nothing about First Nations people. I remember a local leader, Judy, telling us: “If you come here, you can’t just flap around and leave like seagulls. You’ve got to stay.” So we stayed. We learned that you cannot just import systems; you have to listen and adapt to the local context.

Is there a particular moment that epitomises why we do this work?

I remember visiting a home in Northern Australia and meeting a mother whose child was in care. She told me she had been in that very same residential home as a child herself. It clutches at your heartstrings to see the impact of the stolen generation and realising that things hadn’t moved on enough. It reinforced that we have to put the child at the heart of everything we do.

What are you most proud of regarding the culture we have built?

I’m proud that we have built a community of practice that links colleagues across the world with the right ethos and the right ideas about how you work with children.

Finally, what is your message to the team as you hand over the reins?

It might sound simplistic, but the message is: Every Child Matters. I still believe in family-based care over residential care because it is safer and better for the child. In a small family setting, we can monitor and protect children much better than in large institutions. We believe in kids, so we must protect them as much as possible.