WHAT EVERY KID NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT FIFO

FIFO is more than just a job – it’s a unique lifestyle that shapes how families connect and stay close across rosters. While many workers love the opportunities it brings, it can also create new challenges, especially for children trying to understand what their FIFO parent or carer does when they head to site.

Vicky Pellowe is a mum of two living in Western Australia and is the founder of The FIFO Family Project (TFFP). She created the support network based on her six-year FIFO career and experience raising a FIFO family and kids who simply didn’t know what being a FIFO family meant.

Vicky has been running community events for a while now and offering lots of information and support to FIFO families and their young children, but now she’s put all of that, and more, into a book: What Every Kid Needs To Know About FIFO: A-Z Edition.

“The book has been in my brain for a very long time. When I was FIFO, on site there were so many different careers, different people and a really diverse community.

“So, this book introduces the FIFO lifestyle and career opportunities to children from a primary school age, earlier than traditional STEM workshops. The book shares a multitude of different careers from a village manager to a lab technician and an environmental scientist, and it gets kids interested in the different types of careers.

“That’s one of the conversations I had with a STEM activity facilitator I work with. They were saying to me that they did a lot with high school and school leaver workshops but by that point teenagers and young adults have made up their mind about what they’re good at and what they do and don’t like. Primary school age kids are still curious, so we want to start the conversations early,” said Vicky.

The book has benefits for everyone.

“For the children it showcases some really diverse FIFO roles, and they can see themselves in the characters. For the families it helps support partners and FIFO workers when they’re talking about where they go to their kids.

“For the industry itself it’s about inclusive, future focused and family aware so this book has been supported with funding from the WA Department of Communities about supporting gender equality, attraction and retention and highlighting and showcasing more STEM roles.

“For schools it helps start these career conversations and an understanding earlier, and for the community it builds on the understanding of FIFO work and the people who do it, highlighting the sector’s contribution to Western Australia and beyond.”