The grainy, low-res photograph, even after all these years, is worth way more than a thousand words.

For the baby boy, now a hard-working young father, it’s a life-changing moment he thought was lost in time.

For the young woman cradling him, it’s brought home a distant memory and solved a mystery nearly two decades old: what ever became of little David?

"You can say I’m a proud Narungga and Kaurna man," the 19-year-old said.

Department for Child Protection Kinship Care Worker Kylie Foster was a 25-year-old admin worker when a very upset David and his brother Delwyn arrived at the department’s inner north office in 2006; their mother no longer able to care for them.

Kylie jumped in to help, despite not being a social worker or having children of her own at the time.

"David was crying his eyes out," she said. "He just laid on my chest for hours. I patted him and rocked him and eventually he fell asleep. Then I just sat there for ages with him on my chest; I didn’t dare move."

Kylie was reminded of David by a DCP article about his return to Country at Point Pearce with his cousin Chris (pictured right). DCP organised the trip when the teenagers turned 18 and transitioned out of care.

She was prompted to search for the long-lost picture when she read David didn’t have any baby photos of his own.

"I always wondered what happened to David," she said. "It was quite emotional for me. It’s nice to see he’s doing so well."

David is now completing a civil construction apprenticeship and is father to his own baby daughter, who he promises won’t face the same challenges he did growing up.

"I want to give her the laughter I never had," he said. "I want her to look up to me as a good role model; not just a good role model, but a good dad, a person that goes to work all the time, comes back home, and someone that provides for her and loves her."

That commitment to do the right thing is also spilling over into David’s relationship with his community.

"I want to be a mentor to young Aboriginal people when I get older," he said. "I didn’t have much mentoring. I didn’t have father figures because I was in care.

"So, when I get older I want to be one of the blokes that young blokes look up to. I just want to give back because I’ve been in the same shoes - for what, 17 years? Since I was a baby.

"Because, if you don’t know where you come from you don’t know where you’re going."

David credits his Aunty Melissa for taking him and Delwyn in after they entered care. He refers to her as "Mum".

"She taught us love and respect and manners and gave us a second chance," David said. "If it wasn’t for that beautiful woman, I wouldn’t be the man I am today. I’m so grateful for her for giving me and my brother the love we never felt."

So, what does David think of the photograph (pictured right) and the baby in it?

"Nah, I look cute," he said with a smile. "I look like my young daughter. I can see my daughter in that little fellow there. Everyone says that she looks like me.

"Now I just know that she looks like me ... I can see it, and that's the way she sleeps, too, her head like that fat little baby."

Kinship carers like David’s Aunty Melissa fulfil a crucial role in the South Australian child protection system.