What we do

The Marsh Memorial Homes residential care programme operates 24/7 in six houses on the Woodside estate, surrounded by open fields and tranquil gardens. Each house accommodates ten children cared for by trained and registered Professional Child and Youth Care Workers. Boys and girls are accommodated in separate houses, with each house catering for a specific developmental phase.

In order to provide opportunities for healing, and transformation our resident Social Workers offer support and counselling to all children in our care. In addition we partner with a number of NPO’s and State facilities in order to provide the specialised services which some of our children require.

We believe that appropriate educational opportunities are vital in transforming lives. Thus we attempt to match children to schools which would best cater for their individual needs, and partner with schools which are sensitive to our children’s particular needs, background and upbringing.

Our children participate in regular life skills programmes run by our Childcare Workers, volunteers and partner organisations to develop self-confidence, team work, leadership, communication skills and the like.

The children are encouraged to participate in sport and extramural activities at their individual schools as well as having numerous opportunities to play sport, learn dancing, yoga, drumming and arts and crafts at the Homes.

The large grounds, swimming pools and halls of Marsh Memorial Homes allow ample opportunity for the children in our care to be able to relax, play and simply enjoy the environment.

Developing the spiritual life of the children in our care is central to the life of Marsh Memorial Homes. All children participate in age appropriate daily devotional activities, are taught to say grace at meals and to live with gratitude, attend church based youth group and youth camps and worship together in our chapel on Sundays. We are a Christian organisation, where children of all faiths are welcomed, where possible we partner with other religious communities to ensure that the spiritual needs of children from different faith backgrounds are meaningfully catered for.

Marsh Memorial Homes has a proud history of developing family preservation strategies and models. Our Social Workers in partnership with Social Workers from the Department of Social Development and a number of other child protection agencies operating in the community work tirelessly to ensure that the children placed in our care maintain contact with their families and that the work of reunification is a priority.