Meet Kirsty, Foster Carer of 10 Years.

“Years ago when I was in my early 20s, I had quite a passion for fostering and I started fostering teenage girls when I was living in New South Wales.

My husband and I got married after we moved to South Australia, and fostering was still something that was there in the background for me – it was something innately in me.

As newlyweds, we started to think about fostering together, but life happened. We had a baby, followed by 18 years of raising our own four children.

Then, about 11 years ago, it was our children who started prompting us to think about foster care again. They were saying, ‘look we’ve got capacity to do this, we’re a family that can give – we’ve got room in our home and room in our hearts, let’s do it’.

So it was ultimately our own kids that got us over the line to look at fostering again, not that we really needed pushing, mind you!

Our family was totally on board, but the house was still quite full. However one of the most touching things for me, was our then 16-year-old daughter said, ‘look if they won’t approve us because of the space – I’ll move out of my room to the room downstairs.’

Now, she didn’t have to do that. We shuffled things around and made it work. But it just spoke volumes to me, that at she was willing to give up her space for the benefit of another little person she didn’t even know yet.

We started out fostering long term, and I was never going to foster babies, it just wasn’t my thing. But nearly 10 years on, we’ve done a bit of everything!

I think that’s the thing with fostering, it grows you. You might start with a certain heart towards a certain type of care, and then as you start to realise how great the need is and how many children need a home, then your horizons broaden; you simply grow and adapt.”

Interested in learning more about Foster Care? Find out more and start your fostering journey here.