Mrs Johnson, along with her husband Wayne, from Tarrone, have been foster carers to about 20 children and young adults.

“We saw ads in the paper, lots of ads,” she said.

“We had our son Tom and he was an only child. We had the time and we thought we would interchange, which was looking after children with disabilities. While we were doing that training we did extra training to be foster carers.” The Johnsons have mostly fostered long-term children.

“We were initially going to only do respite and short-term caring, so we wouldn’t get too attached, but sometimes after three weeks, it turns into 12 months,” she said. “We tend to just have one child usually at a time, and most have stayed 12 months.”

Some children have stayed for 10 years at the Johnson household. “We have grit at our place,” she said. “If a child comes, no matter how hard it is, we try to make it work. We always say ‘once you start on something you have to see it through’.”

Watching the children grow towards adulthood is Mrs Johnson’s favourite part of foster caring.

“It might be one step forward and five steps back, but you never give up,” she said. “The next time it might be one step forward and no steps back.” 

Ms Hill, who lives at Terang with her partner Aaron and five children, started about five years ago in kinship care.

During that time they have cared for 10 children in emergency, respite and long-term care.

“After kinship care I knew there was a need in the community for foster carers,” she said. “You need to have everybody on board in the house to have a foster care child come in.”

She enjoys watching children meet milestones along with healthy development during their time in her care.