Unconditional love

CHRISTMAS is a time when many of us turn our thoughts to charity and generosity, to provide something a little extra for those more marginalised members of our community, but for one Windang mum, she seems to have those thoughts all year long. Alison Linberg and her husband Troy have been foster parents for the last year and a half, tasked with providing a caring, stable home and family environment for children who, usually through no fault of their own, find themselves either wards of the court or under the jurisdiction DOCS. Alison says fostering children seemed like a totally natural thing to do.

My parents fostered eight children for a period of five years when I was a child, so I grew up in that environment, Alison said. With the increasing demand for foster parents today, it seemed only natural that I should start doing it too.

Its challenging, and you dont always know the childs background, but really its not a lot different from raising your own kids there are good times and bad times, just like in any family. Its about showing compassion and understanding, providing a structure and framework for the children to exist within, but mostly, its about caring.

You have to be able to give them the space to talk openly about their own family its not about taking over their lives, its about giving them breathing space.

Its also great for teaching our son that there are different people in the world, with different issues to deal with. It has helped him learn tolerance, compassion and empathy for others and their problems the same things I learned, when my parents were fostering. You cant do this without the full support and acceptance of your partner and your extended family, she said. Mine have been just marvellous. Alisons mum says she doesnt regret her decision to foster children when Alison was a child. The re were bad times of course, but my memories are of the little things small acts of kindness or caring which revealed the real person inside, she said. I treasure the little bits of memorabilia given to me by the children, she said. Alison and Troy have fostered four children in the last 18 months.

This will be our first Christmas with our foster daughter, and we are all looking forward to it being a very special day for all of us.