About Hatch

Care for the Carers who Care for the Kids.

Hatch is the independent, carer-led community platform for NSW foster and kinship carers — led by carers, built on technology, and independently governed, separate from every government department and service provider in the sector. Partners can support Hatch; none of them control it.

Mission & vision

What we're working toward.

Mission

Vision

A foster care system where every carer feels valued, supported and heard, so placement stability becomes the norm rather than the exception, and every child in care has the chance to grow up in a stable, nurturing home.

Our story

Why Hatch exists.

Carers provide continuous, day-to-day care inside arrangements shaped by government, agencies and services. Their wellbeing is closely connected to children's wellbeing, and carers who feel connected and supported are better placed to give children stable, nurturing relationships. The system on its own can't always give carers that connection.

Hatch was founded by a sector professional with 15 years in NSW out-of-home care and the founder of Waddle, a technology company, alongside carers with decades of lived experience. We started from a simple belief: carers are central agents of change, so supporting them well is a good place to begin.

That belief shapes how Hatch works. We build a trusted community where carers connect, nurture each other and share what they know. Over time, what carers learn together can help us improve, and, in aggregated and anonymised form, help improve conversations about the wider system. Our ultimate aim is for children in care to thrive. Supporting carers is how we work toward it, not a guarantee of it.

How we work

Independent, and constructive.

Hatch is independently governed, so our mission and carers' needs set our direction, not any one funder or contract. Independence doesn't mean working alone. We want constructive relationships with carers, volunteers, government, NGOs and others working toward better outcomes, and our Working Together framework describes how we approach that. Read how it works.

What we stand for

Five values. Not aspirational — operational.

If we are not delivering on them, we are not Hatch.

Independence

Our mission and carers' needs set our direction, not any one funder or contract.

Lived expertise

Carers are professionals. Their knowledge is worth paying for.

Dignity

Not heroes. Not victims. People doing skilled work.

Integrity

No overclaiming reach, and no promising outcomes we can't measure.

Impact

We measure what we do and report only what we can evidence.

How change happens

How we think change happens.

Connected, nurtured, empowered carers

More sustainable caring

More stable relationships

Better prospects for children

This is our theory of change, not a guarantee. We measure what we do and report only what we can evidence.

Leadership

The people behind Hatch Carers.

Carers with lived experience, and founders pairing sector knowledge with technology expertise.

Marcie McGowan

CEO, Founder, Director

Marcie has dedicated her career to making a difference to the lives of Australia's most disadvantaged children. She's a passionate social justice advocate who isn't afraid to ask the hard questions or get stuck into messy problems. Drawing on 15 years experience working in foster care, Marcie is no stranger to navigating complex systemic dynamics, and believes positive and productive working relationships are key to addressing the sector's most pressing needs.

"Co-founding and leading Hatch Carers has been my most challenging and rewarding professional experience to date. Working amid the quagmire of systemic problems requires a level of perseverance that humbles me daily. Thankfully, it's not a solo effort—leading this initiative is made possible by the dedication and expertise of the team around me."

Marcie holds qualifications in Psychology and Social Impact. She has worked for both large and small OOHC NGOs in various casework and management roles during her 15-year tenure in the NSW OOHC sector.

Nathan Andrews

CTO, Founder, Director

Nathan's past 25 years have taken him from managing and performing music in Sydney to 15 years in software engineering and leadership — a path that led him to build Waddle, sold as a best-in-class fintech company to Xero.

At the Reserve Bank of Australia, he got early exposure to software and economics while modernising legacy banking systems. At Tyro, he saw top-tier engineering practice firsthand. Co-founding Waddle let him learn nearly every part of running a company — marketing strategy, product hiring, architecture reviews, and still writing code himself — with software that was eventually adopted by major banks globally.

Ken Raison

Director, Volunteer

Ken and his wife have been carers for 23 years, across a full range of care types, and Ken has provided personal advocacy for carers across NSW for 20 years — as knowledge expert, counsellor, consultant, writer and voice for carers, so that both carers and the children in their care get the opportunities they're entitled to.

That experience, together with his tertiary qualifications, is what drew him to Hatch Carers — an equally unique group of experienced carers and professionals with a similar ethos.

"Kids and their carers are my Raison d'être."

Volunteers

Coming soon

Our community is moderated and facilitated by volunteer carers, overseen by Hatch. We're growing a team of volunteers who bring lived expertise as kinship and foster carers, alongside professional capability in carer education, recruitment, support, advocacy, coaching and therapy. Interested? Email us.

Get in touch

Have a question?

Email support@hatchcarers.com.au