It was here she saw the surviving children of these recently dead, and met too many grandparents taking on the full-time care of children in the wake of parents' deaths.

Rowe realised that many of these families were left on their own without support from government or community, and so she made it her mission to help.

Mirabel Foundation is the result, labelled by the 2015 Out of Home Care Senate committee as the best practice approach to support kin carers.

It provides advocacy, referral and emotional assistance to children and their kinship carers, and its ultimate aim is to invest in the children, to restore their sense of worth, belonging and hope for the future.

Family Support officer Elizabeth McCrea said the organisation, which started out helping four families in Victoria, now helps up to 1000 families across Victoria and New South Wales.

"Jane saw that the government just stepped away from these families, often leaving aunts or single grandmothers to magically find the funds to feed and clothe three, four or in one particular case five children; five boys under the age of 11," Ms McCrea said.

"She wanted to create something to help these families. It started with a simple event to help raise money for Christmas presents, and it continued around Jane's kitchen table like this for many years."

Ms McCrea said the organisation took a practical approach to helping families, and support depended on the particular needs of a family.

"The philosophy is that every child deserves a childhood. The other important factor is recognition of the fact that to support the child you have to support the carer. That is a critical thing."

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Mirabel offers a telephone counselling service, recreational day programs for children such as swimming with seals or learning to ski, therapeutic groups to share trauma and other experiences, youth groups for teenagers at high risk, kinship carer support groups and also provides respite.

"The kids get to do things with Mirabel that they otherwise would not have done. Regular activities that would never have taken place with parents, nor with their grandparents because they don't have the money or are simply too tired," Ms McCrea said.

"All our programs are free to our families. Most of our funding comes from philanthropic organisations and our fundraising, and ten per cent is government funding from the state and federal governments."

They also offer family camps, where both children and their carers spend the weekend being cooked and cared for during the time away.

"For both the kids and carers isolation is a big thing. The kids think they are the only ones in their situation as do the carers, so when they come along and take part in a camp they see they are not alone," Ms McCrea said.

"Other kids talk about their Dad being in jail or on drugs, or speak about living with Nan, and so the camps become a safe place for newbies to talk which for a lot of them might be the first time.

"It also helps them to make new friends and meet positive adult role models."

Children take part in a variety of recreation activities while the carers are also offered activities such as laughter therapy, hairdressing sessions, or mens shed activities.

Ms McCrea said the organisation remains focused on its current load in two states but is able to offer assistance to potential organisations looking to enter the field.

"Similar organisations need to decide what they are going to start with and then over the years develop what is needed for a particular community."