Julie Baggs is one local carer who has fostered numerous children over the last 14 years.

“It can seem daunting, but the rewards of watching them achieve their own goals and helping them to set them definitely outweigh the hard times,” Ms Baggs said.

“If you can be flexible enough to see they are their own person and find their beauty, they are going to bloom.

“You have to unravel each of their layers and find their niche,” she said.

There are currently around 200 Family and Community Services foster carers in the southern NSW district, around 130 of them with local NGO agencies.

In her career as a teacher, Ms Baggs saw children on a daily basis who were in need of help and stability, leading her to put her name forward as a carer.

Being a foster carer can involve short-term, long-term, respite or emergency care.

“Carers are needed across the board, particularly in respite care,” she said.

Respite care offers full-time foster carers, parents or guardians a regular break, often for one or two weekends a month or for a week during school holidays.

“It’s good for the kids to see different family units because it helps build their social skills instead of being stuck on their iPad,” Ms Baggs said.

“I’m lucky because I have family around me, but not everyone has that network, which is why Anglicare is so important.

“Anglicare have been awesome, they are very lovely understanding people,” she said.

Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) district director Jill Herberte said foster care is an important way for the community to work with them and non-governmental agencies to offer a safe and stable environment for children who can’t live with their families.

"Keeping a foster child in a familiar environment, at their own school and in touch with the people who are important to them is our main aim,” Ms Herberte said.

Ms Herberte said carers are a scarce and much-needed resource in southern NSW. 

“The bigger the pool of foster carers, the more likely we are better able to match a child to a carer or family who understands their individual needs,” she said.

“Foster Care Week is our way of saying thank you for the wonderful contribution our foster and kinship carers make to our local community every day of the year – we couldn’t do it without them.”

For more information about foster care, click here or phone 1800 236 783.