Volunteer with us
Volunteers make an invaluable contribution to the work of Children First Foundation. We couldn’t do what we do without their support.
We are seeking compassionate Cultural Support Volunteers to assist children and families travelling to Australia from Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Vietnam for medical care.
Families typically stay between 6–16 weeks and reside at Ronald McDonald House Charities in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney: volunteer support is meaningful, hands-on, and often intensive during this period. While we’re unable to offer regular weekly volunteering due to the changing nature of family arrivals, your involvement can make a profound difference—whether assisting with cultural food preparation, helping families connect with community and cultural events, supporting families gain confidence with rehabilitation care or supporting access to relevant church services.
We are particularly keen to hear from volunteers who speak Bislama, Tok Pisin or Tetum, especially those with interpreting experience in healthcare or community settings. If you are culturally connected, flexible, health-literate and passionate about walking alongside families during a challenging time, we would love to hear from you.
Volunteers must be between 18-85 years of age and committed to our high standards of child safeguarding, see details below.
Steps to Becoming a Volunteer:
- Application (please see details below)
- Call with our Miracle sMiles team
- Reference check
- Working With Children Check and National Police Clearance/Check
- Orientation
- Child Safety Training
- Begin volunteering
How to Apply:
We will contact you for a phone call to discuss volunteering in more detail.
All our volunteers are required to obtain a Working with Children Check and a National Police Check, and adhere to our Child Safety Standards. These are legal requirements for all organisations that provide services for children. We can assist you with the process of obtaining these and will cover all associated costs.
Child Safeguarding Commitment:
Children First is a proudly child-safe organisation with a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, harm, or exploitation of any child or young person. Safeguarding children is non-negotiable and underpins everything we do.
Our recruitment, screening and induction processes are deliberately designed to protect children and uphold the highest standards of safety across all Children First activities. All volunteers are required to hold (or obtain, at our cost) a valid Working with Children Check and National Police Check, formally agree to our Child Safeguarding Code of Conduct, and complete mandatory online child safeguarding training.
These requirements reflect our shared responsibility to create safe, respectful and protective environments for every child and family we support. You can see more at Child Safety.