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. 

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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.

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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
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Executive Director

Deirdre
O’Sullivan
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Trustee

Mark
Bromley

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Patrons

Sir David &
Lady Catherine
Carruthers

founder

Ewen
Lau­ren­son

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Trustee

Chris
Olsen

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Trustee

Derek

Lieft­ing

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Marketing Coordinator

Glydel Ann

Mercado

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Trustee

Andrew
Dunn
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Treasurer

Debbie

brenton

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Trustee

Josie

Olsen