It's been a while since I've been on the forums, so figured it was time I came and posted in here.

In June 2010 I went to an information evening on fostering with my aunt who was looking to foster. Fostering is something that my husband and I have always discussed as our plan if TTC didn't work out - but we were always told that we would have to wait a minimum of 2yrs after stopping any fertility treatment, or 2yrs after any grief event such as a miscarriage.

At the time of the information evening it had only been 3mths since our last miscarriage, but after 7+yrs of TTC and no success I had already decided that I couldn't put myself through another cycle of TTC.

I asked some questions that night and were told that each case is assessed on an individual basis and I may not have to wait 2yrs to start the process of fostering. So I asked for someone to contact me for more information.

In July 2010 we had two case managers from the agency come and meet us and discuss what type of care we would opt for. Prior to them arriving we were thinking respite care, but by the time they left we were leaning towards long term care. They thought a 6-12mth wait after the last pregnancy would be appropriate and that by the time we finished the assessment & training that period would be over.

We started the intensive assessment & training phases in August 2010 and went to the panel for approval in October 2010 and were approved as long term carers for up to 3 siblings, aged 0-12yrs.

It all happened a lot faster than we thought it would. We had been planning an overseas trip in Nov/Dec 2010. So we asked that we not be matched with a placement until we returned from our trip after Christmas. However, the agency told us that they already had a match to 3 siblings (boy, girl, boy all under 5yo) that were currently with a short-term carer and when we returned from our trip they would transition them to us. A week before we left for our overseas trip we were told that the short term carers had now decided that they wanted to become the long term carers for these 3 siblings. That wasn't the normal practice and they had to apply to Community Services to do so, and Community Services told them no that they would be placed with us. This began a battle that carried on the whole time we were overseas as the current carers appealed the Community Services decision.

We returned from our trip at Christmas time and our agency asked us to come in for a meeting the first week in Jan 2011. They told us that the matter would be decided by the end of Jan, but if we wanted to be matched with another set of children then that would be fine. We said we would just wait and see what happens. We got a call the last week in January to say that they want us to take another placement that has become available - 3 little sisters under 3yo and could we come in for a meeting.

We went into the meeting and if we were to take this placement then the first set of 3 children would remain with their short term carers. We discussed it and decided not to take that matter any further. So we then found out about the 3 little girls that would become our foster daughters. Their ages at the time were 3mths, 13mths and 2yr11mths and they were currently split between two emergency carers. We went home, discussed it and told them yes.

So on 1st Feb 2011 (our 8yr wedding anniversary) we got to meet our 3mth old for the first time. She moved in with us permanently on 7th Feb 2011. We then started a month long transition plan of the older two girls and they moved in with us permanently on 16th March 2011.

It's been a crazy 6mths and the girls are now aged 10mths, 20mths and 3.5yrs. We have long term court orders for the girls to stay in care til they turn 18. We've had many ups and downs during the last 6mths and I'm sure we have many more ahead of us! But it's all been worth it.

I never imagined that we would be placed with children so young - I assumed that they would be school aged children. So it was a shock when they told us how young the girls were - and I realised that I didn't get to miss out on night feeds and changing nappies. We consider ourselves to be very lucky that they are part of our lives.