Plenary Speakers

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Stacey Morrison

Stacey Morrison Ngāi Tahu, Te arawa waka, Pākehā

Growing up in Christchurch, Timaru and Blenheim, Stacey Morrison was the eldest child of her young parents, quite disconnected to her Māori language or culture. She found her way into TV presenting through her Aranui High School drama group and has never really left the media industry, working as a radio presenter, television writer, director, producer and presenter in shows across the spectrum of entertainment, documentary, comedy and national live broadcasts for Matariki. As a young adult she learned te reo Māori, raised her tamariki as first-language Māori speakers with her husband Scotty and is now a licensed translator and interpreter of te reo Māori and author of books like Kia kaha, A storybook of Māori who changed the world; My first words in Māori and My first words about Tikanga Māori and her translation work includes the new children’s book ‘Te Whaea o te motu’ about Dame Whina Cooper.

Stacey Morrison

Stacey Morrison

Television and Radio Host, MC for Kōkiri 2026

Mai Rangatira

Bio coming soon...

Talk title:  Kei te rongo koe? - State of Care Report (Joint talk)

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VOYCE Rangatira

Keynote Speaker

Kirsten Smith

Bio coming soon...

Talk title:  Kei te rongo koe? - State of Care Report (Joint talk)

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Kirsten Smith

Keynote Speaker​

FASD-CAN​

Bio coming soon...

Talk title: “Whakarongo mai ki ō mātou reo” - Hear our Voices

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FASD-CAN

Keynote Speaker​

Moses Simpson​

Twenty20

Bio coming soon...

Talk title: Happy Birthday! Welcome to Homelessness

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Moses Simpson

Twenty20 Transitional Housing, Keynote Speaker

Mihingarangi Forbes

Award Winning Journalist, Keynote Speaker

Mihingarangi Forbes​

Bio coming soon..

Talk title: How to Capture Stories

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Workshop Presenters

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NeuroSense​

Presented by Kylie, Chris (Co-Founders & Foster Parents) with Tyrone (Care Experienced Rangatahi)

Bio coming soon...

Workshop title: Finding Calm and Focus: Sensory Strategies for Emotional Regulation in Care

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NeuroSense

Kylie, Chris & Tyrone

Xixi Torres

(Pronounced "Cee Cee," she/her)

Xixi is a Chinese-kiwi, care-experienced person with deep roots in the New Zealand Aotearoa foster care system, having lived in group homes from ages 12 to 22. Drawing on 10 years of professional experience in therapeutic counselling, she holds a Master's in Creative Arts Therapy (Clinical) with First Class Honours, where her research explored her own lived experience in the system. Xixi is passionate about holistic health, spirituality, creativity, and population health, bringing a unique blend of professional expertise and personal insight to the creative workshop.

Workshop title: The Village of Care: A Portrait of Our Collective Identity

Xixi Torres

Xixi Torres

VOYCE Board & CEYP

Hina Nasir​

Bio coming soon..

Workshop title: Reveal: Finding Our Why, Honouring Our Way

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Hina Nasir

Research Designer and Social Advocate

Reihana Dougherty ​

Reihana Dougherty (she/her/ia, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Hāua) is a passionate advocate for tamariki and rangatahi in Aotearoa, bringing both professional expertise and lived experience to her mahi. Based in Ōtautahi, Reihana is a Māmā and works in a Y1–8 kura, supporting the Leadership Team, Board, and ākonga.

In 2023, she joined the VOYCE Whakarongo Mai Board, shaping strategic direction and advocacy efforts to improve outcomes for young people in care. She also supported the establishment of the VOYCE Te Waipounamu Regional Youth Council in 2020. With advisory and support experience across public and private sectors, Reihana brings a broad and informed perspective to her work.

Reihana’s personal journey reflects the resilience of rangatahi navigating the care system. She left foster care at 16 and became a young parent at 17, working to build a stable life for her whānau. These experiences fuel her commitment to transforming the care system, ensuring that young people do not have to navigate parenthood, independence, or care alone.

She firmly believes in the power of listening to those who have lived through the systems designed to protect them. Reihana works tirelessly to ensure young people's voices are heard and respected at all levels of decision-making, advocating for bold, system-wide change that is trauma-informed and representative of the diverse experiences of the diverse experiences of tamariki and rangatahi.

Workshop title: Breaking Cycles and Building Futures: Supporting Young Care Experienced Parents Panel

Reihana Dougherty

Reihana Dougherty

VOYCE Board & CEYP

Katarina Padlie​

Bio coming soon...

Workshop title: Breaking Cycles and Building Futures: Supporting Young Care Experienced Parents Panel

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Katarina Padlie

Care Experienced Rangatahi

Veronica Smith ​

Bio coming soon...

Workshop title: Breaking Cycles and Building Futures: Supporting Young Care Experienced Parents Panel

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Veronica Smith

Care Experienced Rangatahi

Laura Hooper​

State Program and Engagement Coordinator

Laura, originally from the Emerald Isle of Ireland, now calls Adelaide, South Australia home, where she lives with her husband and daughter. She holds a Bachelor of Education and has built a diverse career across the community services sector. Passionate about empowering children and young people to reach their full potential, Laura deeply values her role at CREATE as the State Program and Engagement Coordinator for South Australia. She embraces the opportunity to listen to lived experience, recognising how vital these voices are in driving meaningful and lasting change.

Workshop title: Promise Me I Can See My Sibilings: Sibling Connection, Stability & Identity in Care

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Laura Hooper

CREATE Foundation, SA

Allie​

Young Consultant

Allie, is a 20-year-old Young Consultant and advocate with a lived experience in out-of-home care since the age of six. Drawing on her personal journey, Allie dedicates her career to advocating for change within the care system and helping other young people learn how to use their voice. She works with CREATE Foundation, participating in ministerial meetings, training sessions, and youth advisory groups to amplify young person’s voices in policy and practice. Through her advocacy, leadership, and mentorship, Allie is committed to creating pathways that ensure young people leaving care are supported, heard, and empowered. Allie’s passion is with transforming young people’s leaving care journeys and creating stability within care.

Workshop title: Promise Me I Can See My Sibilings: Sibling Connection, Stability & Identity in Care

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Allie

CREATE Foundation, SA & CEYP

Ethan​

Young Consultant

Ethan is an 18-year-old from Adelaide, South Australia and is a Young Consultant with CREATE Foundation. Having been in care since the age of three, he has experienced both family-based and residential placements. He is a passionate advocate for reform in the child protection system, driven by his own lived experience. With a strong interest in peer mentoring, Ethan aspires to establish his own mentoring business to support young people in care.

Workshop title: Promise Me I Can See My Sibilings: Sibling Connection, Stability & Identity in Care

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Ethan

CREATE Foundation, SA & CEYP

Eman Ghandour​

Migrant Community Worker

Bio coming soon..

Workshop title: Identity, Culture & Careers - Finding Yourself in the In-Between

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Eman Ghandour

Prajesh Chhanabhai​

Migrant Community Worker

Bio coming soon..

Workshop title: Identity, Culture & Careers - Finding Yourself in the In-Between

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Prajesh Chhanabhai

Pātariki Caffell

Pātariki Caffell

Bio coming soon..

Workshop title: Healing in Verses: Writing Your Way Through The 6 Promises

Pātariki Caffell

VOYCE Kaimahi

Blair Struthers​

State Program and Engagement Coordinator

Blair is the Victorian State and Engagement Coordinator at CREATE Foundation. With a background in social work across Scotland and Australia, Blair brings extensive experience in the out-of-home care sector. Based in Melbourne, Blair works closely with CREATE’s Young Consultants to drive systemic change through youth-led programs, advocacy, and engagement initiatives. Passionate about trauma-informed practice and empowering young people with lived experience, Blair is committed to working together with to strengthen the out-of-home care system and ensuring it meets the needs of those it supports.

Workshop title: Thriving Not Surviving: Embedding Lived Experience, Transitioning from Care in Victoria

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Blair Struthers

CREATE Foundation, VIC

Ella​

Young Consultant

Ella has been involved with CREATE since she was 16, after living in residential care. Now 25, this is her final year with CREATE before she ages out. Her experience of advocacy at CREATE Foundation has given her a strong understanding of the importance of lived experience and the vital role it plays in reform and change. This passion has driven her to work professionally as a consumer consultant in the areas of youth mental health and harm reduction, alongside her work as an enrolled nurse. Ella says she cannot put into words how privileged she has been to meet some of the most inspiring, resilient and empathetic young people, working alongside them to create lasting and meaningful change. She is incredibly proud of what everyone has achieved over the years at CREATE Foundation and has no doubt that lived experience will continue to lead the way to successful reform.

Workshop title: Thriving Not Surviving: Embedding Lived Experience, Transitioning from Care in Victoria

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Ella

CREATE Foundation, VIC, & CEYP

Shaini​

Young Consultant

Shaini is a 21-year-old woman living in regional Victoria, in Traralgon, on the lands of the Gunaikurnai Nation. She is currently studying (and about to graduate!) with a Certificate IV in Community Services and is a Young Consultant with CREATE Foundation’s Youth Expert Advisory Group. She is also a Youth Council member with the Commission for Children and Young People, and a casual Youth Advisor with the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare. Shaini uses her insight and expertise to help develop and strengthen policies and supports for young people in out-of-home care. As a care-experienced young person herself, she now stands on the opposite side of the fence as a Youth Residential Carer, with the privilege of walking alongside young people on their journey through the out-of-home care system. Outside of her work, Shaini is a proud fur-mother to three beautiful babies - Luna the American Staffy, and Bill and Aura the kitty cats.

Workshop title: Thriving Not Surviving: Embedding Lived Experience, Transitioning from Care in Victoria

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Shaini

CREATE Foundation, VIC, & CEYP

Holly Lyall

Holly Lyall (Ngāti Porou) is a proud wāhine from Tūranganui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne), currently working with VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai. She is a passionate advocate for care-experienced taiohi, with experience in residential care, higher education, and leadership across the non-profit and education sectors. With a background in Psychology and Criminology, Holly’s mahi is grounded in rangatahi-led advocacy, mana-enhancing practice, and a commitment to social justice and equity for all tamariki and rangatahi in care.

Workshop title: From Passion to Action: Empowering Everyday Advocates to Champion Youth Voices

Holly Lyall

Holly Lyall

VOYCE Kaimahi

Jacqui Morgan​

Speech and Language Therapist

Bio coming soon...

Workshop title: How to Facilitate Effective Communication and Overcome Communication Breakdowns

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Jacqui Morgan

VOYCE Alumni

Hārema Macrae​

Bio coming soon...

Workshop title: ‘Whiria te Tangata ka Puta he Oranga - Weaving People Promotes Wellbeing’ Panel with CEYP, Social Worker and Caregiver

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Hārema Macrae

Care Experienced Rangatahi

Lyrik Rimene Macrae​

Bio coming soon...

Workshop title: ‘Whiria te Tangata ka Puta he Oranga - Weaving People Promotes Wellbeing’ Panel with CEYP, Social Worker and Caregiver

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Lyrik Rimene Macrae

Care Experienced Rangatahi

Elise Ramage​

Elise Ramage is a determined, outgoing care-experienced wāhine with strong roots in Heretaunga (Hastings). She is currently studying a double degree in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington): a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Criminology with a minor in Religious Studies, alongside a Bachelor of Global Studies, minoring in Globalisation and Human Rights.

Wellbeing has always been deeply important to Elise. Diagnosed with ADHD, she has found wellbeing tools and practices to be her best friends during stressful and challenging times. While at school, Elise was a Wellbeing Leader in Year 12 and went on to become a Wellbeing Prefect in her final year.

Elise has been part of the VOYCE whānau for four years, starting with the very first VOYCE magazine. In recent years, she has advocated on a Regional Youth Council and presented at the CREATE Conference in Adelaide. Her advocacy is driven by a passion for helping care-experienced people feel less alone, and for strengthening support for grandparents raising their mokopuna, because to support tamariki, we must also support whānau.

She is also deeply passionate about improving support for care-experienced students within university settings and strengthening transitional supports, so young people have what they need to succeed and build the lives they want to live.

Workshop title: Looking After Your Hauora: Your Wellbeing Is Your Superpower

Elise Ramage

Elise Ramage

Care Experienced Rangatahi

Mary-Lynn Huxford

Mary-Lynn Huxford (she/her) is a youth advocate, facilitator and poet with lived experience in Aotearoa’s care system. 

Mary-Lynn has led change at both grassroots and legislative levels, championing the voices of tamariki and rangatahi across the motu. She has worked as the National Youth Participation Advisor at VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai, represented care-experienced youth internationally, and is passionate about young people having the knowledge and language to navigate the systems around them, as well as the tools to help change them. 

In 2023, Mary-Lynn was recognised as part of the Y25 list, a national programme celebrating 25 wāhine and gender-diverse young people making change in Aotearoa. In 2025, she led the programme as their Youth Engagement Manager, blending creative practice with intentional youth-centred design to strengthen the programme.

In her spare time, she loves to adventure or gather her friends over kai, joy and creativity.

Workshop title: Our Stories: Zine Making for Care Experienced Young People

Mary-Lynn

Mary-Lynn Huxford

VOYCE Alumni, CEYP

Tayla Taylor​

Tayla Taylor is a rainbow youth worker, advocate, foster sister, leader, and practitioner with a deep commitment to rangatahi who seldom see themselves reflected in the spaces or professionals meant to support them. She has been with VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai for six years, first as a Kaiwhakamana, then Kaiārahi, and now as National Youth (Care Experience) Leadership Development Lead.

Alongside her VOYCE role, Tayla is a Senior Consultant with Leadership Lab in Ōtautahi, delivering an intersectional youth leadership programme. For the past five years, Tayla’s whānau have been caregivers which is how Gray became part of her family.

Tayla has experienced both tension and transformation both personally and professionally through working with and caring for rainbow rangatahi in care. Paired with her own lived experience as a rainbow youth worker, this has strengthened her passion for amplifying the voices and needs of rainbow and takatāpui rangatahi, challenging current practice, and shaping a care system that is safe, supportive, and affirming of young people’s identities.

Workshop title: Beyond Inclusion: Building a Care System Where Rainbow Rangatahi Can Thrive

Tayla

Tayla Taylor

VOYCE Kaimahi

Gray Elliot

Bio coming soon..

Workshop title: Beyond Inclusion: Building a Care System Where Rainbow Rangatahi Can Thrive

Gray

Gray Elliot

Care Experienced Rangatahi

Adam Mcrae

Bio coming soon..

Workshop title: Turangawaewae - A Place of Belonging

Adam Mcrae

Adam Mcrae

VOYCE Kaimahi

Dr. Kerri Cleaver​

Bio coming soon..

Workshop title: Weaving the Threads of Identity Together in Stories and Art

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Dr. Kerri Cleaver

Social Work Academic

Zac Kingi

(he/him)

Co-facilitator Zac Kingi hails from Iwi Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau ā Apanui. Zac brings a rich clinical and therapeutic background spanning nursing, counselling, psychology, and te ao Māori (the Māori worldview). Currently serving as a Kaitohutohu (Māori Cultural Practice Lead) for Safe Network NZ, Zac integrates his expertise to support safe environments in Aotearoa. Zac is deeply passionate about art and creativity, providing a culturally grounded and holistic approach to the therapeutic workshop. 

Workshop title: Coming soon...

Zac Kingi

Zac Kingi

Ihorangi Reweti Peters

Ihorangi Reweti Peters ( he / him / Ia ) is of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Tahu-Ngāti Whaoa, Waikato, Ngāti Kahungunu decent, a passionate advocate for young people and whānau in Aotearoa New Zealand. He brings both professional experience and lived experience to his work. Based In Ōhinehou Lyttelton, Ihorangi works for VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai as a Rangatahi Advisor State of Care.
 
Ihorangi has held many positions in the public and private sector, holding governance and advisory roles, he was a member of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission’s Expert Advisory Group, he was also the Co-Chair of a previous Expert Advisory Group for the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. Ihorangi was also the chair of VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai Te Waipounamu Regional Youth Council, Rangatahi Advisor Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children, he was also a member of the Rangatahi Advisory group for the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry, he then held advisory roles for the Royal Commission of Inquiry. 
 
After his own horrific experiences of State care, Ihorangi has committed himself to ensuring no young person or whānau in Aotearoa New Zealand face the challenges that he did. His brave mahi is essential in helping Aotearoa understand how we can collectively do better for the young people who need us the most, care experienced whānau, pēpī, tamariki and rangatahi. 
Ihorangi

Ihorangi Reweti Peters

CEYP

Promise Three: Learning

Education as a gateway to dreams, rangatahi are supported to achieve aspirations.

Promise One: Care

Every tamaiti receives nurturing, protection, and provision, as any good parent would offer.

Promise Five: Voice

Tamariki and rangatahi are involved in decisions that affect them, and their voices are honoured.

Promise Four: Wellbeing

Timely, accessible, and culturally conscious health and mental health services are available to all taiohi.

Promise Two: Stability

Young people in care experience consistency, safety, and a sense of belonging.

Whānau care is where a child is being raised by someone in their whānau or extended family. Often it means a child living with their grandparents – but could also be another family member like an aunt, uncle or older sibling. Whāngai is the traditional Māori practice of whānau care.