About

We are a New Zealand-based organ­i­sa­tion devoted to the care and pro­tec­tion of chil­dren and their fam­i­lies in mul­ti­ple loca­tions around the world. Here, you can find out more about our vision, mission, and values, and the people working behind the scenes in New Zealand. 

Home — About

↓

our Vision

Every child in the world will belong to a home, family and com­mu­nity where they are safe and loved, go to school, have a good diet and health care, and know that God loves them.

Our Mission

Chil­dren every­where will enjoy their God-given right to belong to a family where they know they are pre­cious, safe and loved. Fam­i­lies, espe­cially poor and broken fam­i­lies, will be sur­rounded by a network of love which will empower them to develop strong and nur­tur­ing rela­tion­ships with their chil­dren. Wher­ever pos­si­ble, chil­dren will grow with their own imme­di­ate or wider family where there is a com­mit­ment to their nurture, secu­rity and wellbeing.

Our Values

Integrity
We adhere at all times to Chris­t­ian moral and ethical principles.

Respect
We respect the per­sonal qual­i­ties and abil­i­ties of all people we encounter.

Prayer­ful­ness
We pray for chil­dren, their guardians, and their com­mu­ni­ties, and for all who work with them.

Honesty
We act with honesty and fairness.

—

Trans­parency
We strive to be trans­par­ent in all of our com­mu­ni­ca­tions and actions.

Sen­si­tiv­ity
We are aware of, and respon­sive to, the feel­ings and cul­tural prac­tices of others.

Quality
We seek at all times to offer a service of high standard.

Training

We provide train­ing in life skills, social work, and the care and pro­tec­tion of chil­dren. This happens in local com­mu­ni­ties, for our part­ners and volunteers.

 

  • Children directly Supported

  • 13,390 Family/Home visits 3414

Empowerment

We help enable com­mu­nity ini­tia­tives which gen­er­ate sur­pluses, such as crop­ping, car­pen­try, and farming, which in turn help to enable new fam­i­lies to do the same. This mul­ti­plies the return over time.

 

  • Training Programmes provided 66

  • Mentoring communications 220

Social Work Care

We provide social work support, health care clinics, tuition centers, and schools, which help to protect, educate, and nurture vul­ner­a­ble children.

 

  • Medical Clinics 17

  • Adults directly — 4300

Our history
Open Home foundation
The Open Home Foun­da­tion was estab­lished in New Zealand in 1977 by Ewen and Gillian Lau­ren­son. Whilst running a Family Home and caring for at-risk teenagers, they read a book called “Love is an Open Door”, written by Bill Bair. The central concept of the book is the model of the Chris­t­ian com­mu­nity across all denom­i­na­tions opening their homes and hearts to care for chil­dren and young people in need.

Ewen and Gillian, sup­ported by others, embraced this concept and began to develop it from their own home in John­sonville, Welling­ton. A network of Chris­t­ian Foster Homes quickly devel­oped, which accepted refer­rals from com­mu­nity and gov­ern­ment agen­cies. The organ­i­sa­tion was reg­is­tered as an Incor­po­rated Char­i­ta­ble Trust with the name of ‘Open Home Foun­da­tion New Zealand’. 1986, the Open Home Foun­da­tion became a national organisation.

In 1991, people from Manipur in North­east India requested OHF New Zealand’s (OHFNZ) assis­tance with the care of impov­er­ished chil­dren. It was at this point that seeds of Open Home Foun­da­tion Inter­na­tional (OHFI) were sown. By 2000, requests for help were coming to Open Home Foun­da­tion New Zealand from many coun­tries. This led to the devel­op­ment of Open Home Foun­da­tion Inter­na­tional, with its own trust deed and char­i­ta­ble status, but with its roots still in Open Home Foun­da­tion New Zealand.

Since then, the work of OHFI has con­tinue, and expanded. It now has part­ners and projects in India, Mexico, Mozam­bique, Romania, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. Ewen remains on the Board and along with Gillian con­tin­ues to be actively involved in OHFI,i pro­vid­ing guid­ance and support. The central goal of all OHFI’s work con­tin­ues to be the empow­er­ment of com­mu­ni­ties to look after their most vul­ner­a­ble children.

Chairperson

Grant
Brenton
Find out more

Executive Director

Deirdre
O’Sullivan
Find out more

Trustee

Mark
Bromley

Find out more

Trustee

Ewen
Laurenson
Find out more

Trustee

Chris
Olsen

Find out more

Patrons

Sir David &
Lady Catherine
Carruthers

Trustee

Andrew
Dunn
Find out more

Treasurer

Bill
Jorgenson
Find out more