Sounds like a very worthwhile cause for a forum, Nanny.
Just an advice or two:
I had a quick look at your forum now and saw that you have a forum called:
Gallery
Pictures of our members and our pets.
I strongly suggest that you make that, forum visible (as well as viewable and readable) for registered members only.
In the same sense I think you should make the actual "support" forums readable to registered members only, though the forums and their forum descriptions can stay visible on the Index page.
I guess -- hope -- my reasons for this advice are fairly obvious...
The settings for this are made in the Admin Panel:
Forum Admin >> Permissions
Choose forum on the drop down menu and click Look up forum.
In Simple Mode you will find another drop down menu where you can choose:
Registered for forums that should be visible on the Index, but readable to registered users only.
Registered [Hidden] for forums that should be invisible on the Index page, until registered members have logged in.
Last but not least, Good luck with your forum!
FoxLeonard