Bob and Julie
Bob and Julie are a professional couple who live in Nedlands. Both have demanding jobs and busy lives, but have found offering short-term foster care a challenging, yet rewarding experience. "Bob and I have been married for thirty years, but have never had children of our own" says Julie "having a young person around has made our lives more interesting and exciting."

As older children do not require constant supervision, many couples like Bob and Julie have been able to incorporate fostering into their busy schedules and make fine foster carers. Many of these foster carers understand the importance of offering a refuge to young people who are often in desperate need. They also recognise that they have the resources available to help and appreciate the opportunity to give something back to the community.

Fred and Suzie
Fred and Suzie live in Joondalup, with their three children and two dogs. The whole family discussed and agreed to provide foster care, as they felt they could offer a happy, fun environment and it would be a good opportunity to meet and help young people less fortunate than themselves. The family have fostered for three years and have had many varied experiences with a number of different kids.

Kelly, their eight year old daughter, enjoys meeting new kids, but says " sometimes they don't want to talk or play with me and that can hurt my feelings, but then I think about how they don't have a home or parents that look after them, and I kinda understand." Kelly hasn't liked all the young people that have stayed with her family, but she has made some good friends and is still in contact with some of the kids when they have moved to longer foster placements or back with their parents.

Shane
Shane is a forty eight year old man who lives alone in Balga. Although he has never had children of his own, he works with young people and has always enjoyed their company. Shane decided to offer foster care after he watched a current affairs program that highlighted the shortage of foster carers in Western Australia. "I watched the show, and then thought about how lucky I have been" he confides. Shane feels he had a happy upbringing himself and wanted to help young people that have been less fortunate.

After two years of fostering, Shane has had many different experiences, but has always felt he has offered the young people in his care someone to talk to and a safe and stable place to stay.