Lulu I am a respite worker on weekends, it would be a great way to start things off. YOu would need a working with children check, a house approval, suitable sleeping arrangements for the child, to have a safe house etc..

I have worked with many foster parents over the years, and my parents used to foster. I have seen the good and the bad and the inbetween.

Fostering is a very necessary things, but I do think before you enter into you need to be aware that the support by the agencies is sometimes not what is needed.

My parents fostered street kids who had offended, we were part of a program that stopped them going into detention centres and offered them a secure home and people who were willing to help them. Our first foster child was great, he was the perfect candidate for a program like this, family was pulling him down, he was super sensitive, he and my mum had a bond, we had him for 8 mths, he got a job, off drugs, doing really well..unfortunately the family pulled him down again afterawhile..he worked through it eventually though
we had many others most unfortunately ended up reoffending, some saw it like a easy choice instead of detention centre..it was too short a time to re shape someone's programing..great concept..just hard to do

The positives are: you can impact in someone's life, in a positive way, you can share your home and heart with a child that needs some of that.

Their behavior and school work may improve as a result.
Your kids will realise that they are fortunate and that not everyone around has what they have.
You will meet new people, social workers, other foster parents, will have access to info about parenting..etc..

Okay the main things I remember as a child, and in my recent work as negative is: the contact with the parents (the department REALLY encourages this) depending on why the child is in care to how regularly and in what environment they see their parents. The child can often react very negatively after seeing their families, because even if they are abusing them, kids still love their real families.
the lack of support from the department can get you down, the FSO's get swapped around regularly so just when you get to know them..they move on...
the fact that the department will generally always act in the interest of the natural parent..they say they act in the child's best interest but I have seen it time and time again..squeaky wheels get the oil..

Alot of the children come with negative behaviours, some of these can be worked through and have positive results quickly, other behaviors may take years and years of work, and sometimes the negative behaviours can stay, and distrupt your family.

Something else you need to consider is you may have a child that offends, one of our foster kids made friend with the local kids and went on a spree of break and enters, my mum got to know our local police very well in that time..he also stole stuff from us and sold it..

My best expereince as being a foster sibling:
we had a young girl whenI was 14 sent to us short term until she was found another placment. they dont usually like the kids to be the same age as your own kids. I was 14 too. This girl had left Kings Cross after her girlfriend died of a herion overdose, she had been working as a prostitute down there. She and I become great friends, and she'd tell me storeis about her work 8-[ I was rather sheltered and naive..anyhow she stayed for about a month..we fought sometimes, but basically got on well..
the day she left, she wrote me a letter and left it on my bed. She told me in the letter that no one "like me" (I guess she meant nice house, good family) had ever treated her like an equal before and that she would miss me and would never forget us..I showed my mum and we cried for ages about it..We tried to get in contact with her afterwards but weren't able to..I think perhaps just that small impact made everything our family had been through worth it...

So what I am trying to say is enter it eyes wise open, it will change our life, sometimes in ways you never wanted or expected..but you also may get expereinces you never would have imagined..

if you have any other questions I'll do my best to answer them!