Leith Harding

Leith Harding and her husband, Rob, have raised a total of seven children, three biological children and four adopted children. They had two biological daughters when they first considered adoption, which was when they were told about a little boy in Sri Lanka in need of a home because his family could not provide for him.
Between agreeing to accept 'Todd' and actually receiving him they conceived and had their own son, so in effect had "claytons twins". Two three year old boys! The Harding family then grew again, adopting a South Korean girl, Starsia. Undaunted by the task at home, Leith then tackled the bureaucracy to set up the first official Ethiopian adoption. They successfully adopted 'Ben' and later 'Zewditu' from Ethiopia.
Determined to help facilitate more families through the process she set up a support network for African/Australian adoptions. Now, almost three decades later, with almost all of her own children grown up and independent, Leith has begun helping mothers in Ethiopia to care and keep their children.
Leith has set up the "Grace Centre" in Bahir Dar offering daycare for children, allowing single mothers to go to work and in turn provide for and keep their children. The centre also provides transitional care for children abandoned, or orphaned, with the aim of resettling them into local families.