Our Story
Before Julie and I were married, Julie told me she wanted lots of children. I only wanted two and thought she was joking, turns out I was wrong.
Six kids later, with adult married children having kids of their own, life has never felt so blessed and busy!
You’d think six kids would be enough, but no. My wife, who’d decided she was done having babies, thought it would be good to foster more. Thirty seven more to be exact.
Fostering taught us that what our Tamariki need isn’t more foster homes or a better foster system. Although both of those needs are real.
What our children really need is a community that holds a brighter vision for family, helping parents do the same, so that their children wake up in homes full of Aroha and hope.
We spent considerable time researching and developing connections, which resulted in the formation of The Bright Vision Charitable Trust – now named Hāpai Whanau.
Our first program came about through a partnership with an incredible young lady by the name of Waikamania. Her program was helping empower young mothers with knowledge and education, alongside an antenatal program.
Now named Hāpai Mama, Waikamania’s program is making a massive impact on the hope and wellbeing of families.
One of our guiding principles in Hāpai Whanau is to love without an agenda.
This has allowed us to look past what we might want to teach in our classes and instead embrace what the very latest science says is best for our children.
The fantastic thing is, science places this type of unconditional love at the heart of all good parenting and is therefore at the centre of all our parenting resources.
Our parenting resources have been developed with Kōhuri Education Co., and Wendy Wilson, an Early Childhood Educator/Facilitator + Parent Coach.
Together, with over 50 years experience, they research the latest science on child development and brain science and develop courses which enable every-day parents to weave this science with their own wisdom so that their family can flourish.
If you have any questions about the content of our parenting resources, please reach out.
We’d love to chat!
Mike Edwards
Co Founder, The Bright Vision Charitable Trust.
