Tara Winkler

Child protection leader, activist, author
Tara Winkler helps vulnerable children escape poverty and be cared for within their families.

Why you should listen

Tara Winkler is the co-founder and managing director of the Cambodian Children's Trust (CCT), established with Jedtha Pon in 2007 to rescue fourteen children from a corrupt and abusive orphanage.

Winkler has led CCT through a number of significant organizational changes, including the closure of the initial CCT orphanage in favor of a family-based care model of programs and services. 

Winkler is the co-founder of Born to Belong Foundation, which provides a unified solution to the global orphanage crisis. Born to Belong Foundation runs innovative and ground-breaking programs in Cambodia, India, Nepal and Uganda to strengthen vulnerable families, reunite institutionalized children with their families, and provide kinship care and foster families for children in need of alternative care. 

Winkler has been featured twice on ABC's "Australian Story" and once on "60 Minutes Australia." Her book How (Not) to Start an Orphanage, published by Allen & Unwin in April 2016, is currently being turned into a feature film.

Tara Winkler’s TED talk