b'THE MIRABEL FOUNDATIONJane Rowe with Troy Rogers who was a Mirabel child and is now a Mirabel Youth Worker(Photo: Meredith OShea)More than two decades after she founded the MirabelBut it was a long way from easy, especially at first. Foundation, Jane Rowe knew her childrens charity inside out and back to front. Designed to support and even saveLike everyone, it hit us fast, Jane recalled. We had to children who have been abandoned or orphaned due toreally change everything we do, immediately. All power parental drug use, The Mirabel Foundation had been builtto the team, who just adapted very quickly; almost on one important principle: these kids and their carersovernight. They had to develop Covid policies and needed face-to-face, in-real-life support.protocols for their office and their work, they had to hastily write a pandemic strategic plan for the entire organisation, And then came 2020, the year when all the cards wereand they had to pull together robust online policies to thrown up in the air.protect the children in this new environment. And Jane Rowe and her team found themselves having toIt took roughly two weeks for the Mirabel team to line up navigate a new pandemic world where the idea of genuineall the virtual ducks, all the while extremely aware that the facetime became unheard of, in a Covid-19 flash. vulnerable children and young people that they support were isolated and unexpectedly alone, along with their And so, they moved to Facetime. And Zoom. And all thecarers, who are often grandparents struggling to cope. other screen-based communication methods that many of us have now become extremely familiar with since the oldThe first thing everyone did was ring in to all the world disappeared. families, Jane said. Immediately, that phone contact 8NEWSBOYS FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2020'