East Ryde Family Show Their Compassion as Foster Carers
Foster Carers and the positive changes they make in the lives of foster children were celebrated during Foster Care Week. The Plug family of East Ryde are one family making a difference in a young child’s life. 
Arie and Jo-Anne Plug have been married for 17 years and have three beautiful children, two boys aged 14 and 12 and a girl aged 11. Despite looking after their children and running their own electrical wholesaling business, they still felt they could do more and have recently become first-time foster carers to a 10 month old baby girl.
Jo-Anne Plug says the extra addition to the family doesn’t make her life feel any busier.
“I already have three children and an extra one has not made a big difference. If anything our new little addition to the family has brought us closer together. We all want to be around her and my children cherish every moment they have with her before and after school,” Ms Plug said.
The Plug family have thought about being foster carers for the past few years, but it was seeing the recent desperate need for foster carers that spurred them into action.
“When all those Australian child abuse stories kept coming out at the beginning of this year, my husband and I couldn’t just stand back and watch when we knew we could help prevent a child from dying or being mistreated by simply opening our homes and hearts,” Ms Plug said.
The baby girl the Plug family are fostering was born with a drug dependency and the first three weeks of her life were spent being weaned off her addiction.
“When we first began caring for our foster child she always seemed to look so sad and was constantly crying and moaning. After about two weeks with us we began to see a change and before we knew it her moping and tears turned into smiles and giggles. It was so nice to know that we did that, it was so rewarding to see that change.”
ANGLICARE’s Principal Officer for Foster Care Programs, Sue Madden, says on any given day 3700 children and young people in New South Wales are in Foster Care placements and sadly the drug dependency experienced by the Plug’s foster child is not a rare occurrence.
“Most of the children and young people who are referred to ANGLICARE’s Foster Care Services have come from homes and families with drug and alcohol problems, mental health issues, disabilities, and experiences of domestic violence and emotional abuse,” Ms Madden said.
Sydney ANGLICARE’s Foster Care Services sadly have to decline some referrals because of insufficient carers available for a range of placement types.
“It is really upsetting when we have to turn away referrals because we don’t have enough carers or because the referred child does not match the set criteria of our approved carers. Many of our foster carers are registered to take on one child aged nought to nine, so when children don’t fit that age range it is extremely difficult to find them a foster family.”
Sydney ANGLICARE are looking for families who are committed to caring for children and young people aged 10 – 18 and also families that are able to accommodate sibling groups so that brothers and sisters do not have to be separated from each other. There is also a need for temporary carers for short term placements for a range of age groups.
The Plug family foster with ANGLICARE’s temporary care program and have been looking after the baby girl for just over a month. According to Jo-Anne Plug it is one of the best things the family has ever done.
“She is just wonderful, we really feel like we helped make her a happy little human being. It is going to be really hard when it comes time for her to leave us. Anyone who has contemplated becoming a foster parent but hasn’t taken the dive should just do it, you won’t regret it”.
According to Sue Madden, committing to being a foster carer is not an easy task but the rewards are of lasting value.
“Being a foster carer is a demanding role. You need to consistently provide compassion, commitment, empathy and care to help heal a lot of the trauma the child has experienced, but when you do see the transformation it is an eternal reward,” Ms Madden said.
“Helping a human being resolve their past, celebrate their present and have hope for the future is the most satisfying act of kindness anyone can give”.
For more information on how to become a Foster Carer please contact ANGLICARE’s Foster Care Service on 02 9890 6800 for our Telopea Centre or 02 9907 1933 for our Allambie Heights Centre.
