A Home and Healing for Every Child

A powerful conversation on storytelling, motherhood and the realities many women face behind closed doors.  In this episode, Emily Hikaiti sits down with Jasmin Tarasin and Clare Lewis to explore the story behind Life Could Be a Dream. Together, they unpack the making of the film, the themes of financial safety and coercive control, and why storytelling plays such a critical role in shifting understanding and systems.  This is an honest, grounded conversation about lived experience, creative responsibility and the impact of telling stories that matter. At its heart, this is about home, what it means to feel safe, and how healing begins when that safety is present.Jasmin Tarasin is an award-winning Australian filmmaker and founder of Pure Pictures. She creates emotionally rich, human-centred stories across documentary, film and immersive installations. Her work has been recognised internationally, including her ABC documentary Utopia Girls, which was a finalist for the AACTA Awards and NSW Premier’s History Awards.  Her debut feature Life Could Be a Dream explores motherhood, financial safety and coercive control, alongside a national impact campaign. At the centre of her work is a deep commitment to honest storytelling and care. Clare Lewis is Creative Director of GoodChat, a production company known for social impact storytelling. She has spent over a decade creating films that engage audiences across social justice, climate and community issues.  Her work includes There Goes Our Neighbourhood (ABC) and I’m Wanita, winner of Best Australian Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival. Through GoodChat, she has led hundreds of impact-driven campaigns that cut through and create change. 

In this episode of A Home and Healing for Every Child, host Melissa Doyle AM sits down with actress and Adopt Change advocate Zufi Emerson for a heartfelt and life-affirming conversation. Zufi reflects on her family’s adoption journey, sharing the unique perspectives she and her brothers experienced growing up, and the simple honesty of children’s curiosity. Melissa and Zufi connect through their shared ties to Ethiopian culture, exploring both personal and global perspectives on adoption. Together, they dive into their roles as ambassadors, the lessons learned along the way, and the changes still needed to ensure every child has the chance to grow up in a safe and loving home. Optimistic, determined, and full of light, Zufi offers a powerful voice for children and families. Help us find #aHomeForEveryChild  Get in touch:  You can find out more about us at www.adoptchange.org.au   Like this episode? Share your thoughts with us on  Instagram   Facebook  LinkedIn Show credits:  Host: Melissa Doyle AM, Adopt Change Ambassador  Guest: Zufi Emerson, Adopt Change Ambassador Sound Engineer: Grant Konemann Executive Producer: Emily Hikaiti, Adopt Change, Ashton Kobler, Adopt Change, Renée Leigh (Carter), Adopt Change 

In this special bonus episode of A Home and Healing for Every Child, Ambassador and host Jonah Bobongie is joined by fellow Adopt Change Ambassadors Joel de Carteret and Brad Murphy for an honest conversation about adoption, identity and the lifelong process of healing. Each of these men has walked a different road – through reunion, grief, trauma, growth and resilience. Now, they come together to reflect on the threads that connect their stories and the lessons that emerge when those experiences are shared.They explore what it means to tell your story as an adult, how that story evolves over time and the way healing reshapes our understanding of the past.This episode is a reminder that no two journeys are alike – but healing deepens when stories are spoken and carried together.⁠Help us find #aHomeForEveryChild⁠  Get in touch:  You can find out more about us at ⁠www.adoptchange.org.au⁠   Like this episode? Share your thoughts with us on  ⁠Instagram⁠   ⁠Facebook⁠  ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Show credits:  Host: Jonah Babongie, Adopt Change Ambassador  Guest: Joel De Carteret, Adopt Change Ambassador, Brad Murphy, Adopt Change Ambassador Audio Producer: ⁠Fernanda Dedic⁠, Adopt Change  Sound Engineer: ⁠Grant Konemann⁠ Executive Producer: Emily Hikaiti, Adopt Change, Ashton Kobler, Adopt Change, Renée Leigh (Carter), Adopt Change 

In this episode of A Home and Healing for Every Child, Ambassador and lived experience advocate Emily Hikaiti is joined by fellow Ambassador – adoptee and filmmaker – Joel de Carteret. Joel shares his remarkable journey of returning to the Philippines and the life-changing experience of reconnecting with his birth family.   But Joel’s story doesn’t end there. He opens up about the evolving complexities of cultural identity, the lifelong impact of childhood trauma and his pursuit of healing through movement, film and dance.   With honesty and deep insight, Joel reflects on what it truly means to come home to yourself. This is a powerful conversation about memory, belonging and the ongoing work of healing.  Help us find #aHomeForEveryChild  Get in touch:  You can find out more about us at www.adoptchange.org.au   Like this episode? Share your thoughts with us on  Instagram   Facebook  LinkedIn Show credits:  Host: Emily Hikaiti, Adopt Change Ambassador  Guest: Joel De Carteret, Adopt Change Ambassador Audio Producer: Fernanda Dedic, Adopt Change  Audio Engineer: Grant KonemannExecutive Producer: Emily Hikaiti, Adopt Change, Ashton Kobler, Adopt Change, Renée Leigh (Carter), Adopt Change 

In this open and reflective conversation of A Home and Healing for Every Child, Board Member and Adoptee Gabrielle Stricker-Phelps sits down with Ambassador and fellow Adoptee Jonah Bobongie for a conversation about growing up, identity, and the many sides of adoption.  Jonah shares what it was like to grow up in Brisbane with a loving adoptive family while feeling disconnected from his Papua New Guinean roots and how that shaped his understanding of culture, identity, and belonging. Together, Gabi and Jonah explore the support they found in their families and friends, the early awareness they had of being adopted, and how stigma can linger even in the most positive of adoption stories.   From Launching Led By A Heartstring and finding the time to live life as a young adult, Jonah is able to reflect on the power of storytelling, the nuances in family, the strength that can come from healing in a way that can come in a way that doesn’t fit with society’s expectations of what an adoptee’s journey “should” look like.   This is a conversation about connecting, choice, and the importance of making space for all adoption stories.  Help us find #aHomeForEveryChild  Get in touch:  You can find out more about us at www.adoptchange.org.au   Like this episode? Share your thoughts with us on  Instagram   Facebook  LinkedIn Show credits:  Host: Gabrielle Stricker-Phelps, Adopt Change Board Member Guest: Jonah Bobongie, Adopt Change Ambassador Audio Producer: Fernanda Dedic, Adopt Change  Executive Producers: Emily Hikaiti, Adopt Change, Ashton Kobler, Adopt Change, Renée Leigh (Carter), Adopt Change