The northern suburbs stepsisters have been caring for Maree’s granddaughter *Sophie since she was a year old, and have also cared for children in emergency and respite care placements.

This year, they’ve extended an invitation to Sophie’s school friend *Sarah, who lives in residential care, to join the family’s Christmas weekend celebrations.

“(Sarah)’s such a beautiful kid and we think she needs to be with a family,” Maree says.

“She’ll come to our place in the morning, we’ll have a Christmas present for her and we’ll all go in the car to one of our best friends’ houses.

“It will be a family affair with extended family. The girls can play in the pool, have fun and eat lots of food.”

After Sophie and Sarah’s friendship began to grow, Maree and Cass reached out to their caseworkers to put arrangements in place so the girls could spend more time together on weekends.

They’ve since attended a camp together for grandparents and grandchildren, along with other events and activities, such as the Gawler Show and a magic performance, and are arranging to provide fortnightly respite care for Sarah on weekends.

“They call each other sister,” Cass says of the girls, who put on a show for their classmates recently, after she explained to the school that she and Maree would be taking Sarah for regular respite.

“(Sophie) was standing next to (Sarah) and she said, “Now we’re really sisters” and they hugged each other in front of all the kids in the class.

“(Sarah)’s face lit up and she said, ‘I can’t wait’. It brought tears to my eyes and the SSO’s. All the kids were cheering.”

Maree has spent much of her life raising children, having had four children and also raised her grandson, who now has children of his own.

She says Sophie and Sarah enjoy spending time designing jewellery for each other.

“Sometimes I’ll sit with them and do that, and we make bracelets. It makes me feel happy that I can give to another child, to make her feel part of a family and that there’s people there that she can rely on,” she says.

There are more than 980 foster care households in South Australia, and more than 1720 kinship care households.

Kinship care placements are offered by relatives, people considered to be family, close friends or a member of a child or young person’s community, in accordance with their culture.

*Names have been changed for privacy reasons