Leon and Melissa Watson, who live near Candelo, are both very family-orientated. This is evident by the fact they have 10 children between them who are between the ages of seven and 24. 

Also, for the last 19 months they have been foster carers, currently caring for one child long-term as well as providing respite care. 

“You don’t realise the need for foster carers down here until you get involved,” Leon said. 

Melissa said there was a large need for carers to help children stay in the area, otherwise they would get taken to another region. 

The Watsons always wanted to be foster carers, as a way to give back to the community.

“I’ve lived a pretty good lifestyle,” Leon said.

“I wanted to help people who haven’t had such a good start.” 

Rewards that come from the job include seeing improvement in the children as well as learning from them. 

“I think that our children have learnt a lot too, the young ones have learnt interaction skills and the older ones learnt how to become a bit more settled,” Leon said.

Their long-term foster child was very artistic and loved music, so brought another dimension to the family. 

There are challenges to being a foster carer, Melissa said, including dealing with different behaviours and personalities as well as living under a higher level of scrutiny. 

But she said the most important criteria for a carer was to be patient and flexible.

“It’s a chance for the children to experience a different sort of normal, even if just for a short time they can look back and think of different ways of living and behaving,” Melissa said. 

Their long-term foster child said the best thing about being in a big family was that you never get bored. 

MacKillop Family Services is running a free foster care information session at the Bega Valley Regional Gallery in Zingel Place, Bega from 7pm on September 19.

Attendees will learn about being a foster carer, the steps involved and the support they can receive.