Couple honoured for foster care

CARE is the key word, say foster caregivers Bob and Linda Surtees of Masterton, who are being honoured this month with a national award for Excellence in Foster Care.
The Surtees have been given an Excellence in Foster Care Award from the New Zealand Family and Foster Care Federation, one of seven nationwide.
Asked the key qualities of good fostering, Bob said, "just to care".
"That's it; the word care," Linda agreed. "We get kids that have stayed with us popping in all the time, for a chat or a meal, because we've built up that relationship."
President of the Wairarapa Foster Caregivers Association, Val Ball, said she is very excited that the Surtees have won the award, "because they lead the way in foster care".
"They have a genuine heart for young people; they're very special people that I hold in very high regard".
Bob and Linda run a Child Youth and Family foster home in Masterton.
There are up to six children at the home at one time, staying for up to six months or sometimes longer because of a shortage of foster carers a problem nationwide.
They estimate they have cared for about 70 children over the years, as well as raising their own.
Occasionally, "they're just so happy here, and they stay till they're old enough and get a job and move on," Linda said.
Bob and Linda want to encourage more people into foster care, because the need is always greater than the supply. Both say they want to "dispel the myth" that children need foster care because of problems with their own behaviour.
"We always think, 'they didn't damage themselves," Linda said.
Some of the children have suffered "personal tragedy" such as the death of a sibling or a parent, but others "just need a break".
"We try to have it like we're an aunt and uncle and they're here for a holiday," Linda said.
"That way they can keep in touch and they can come around and see us.
Bob said the home is "supposed to be run like a family-like setting. We do our utmost to keep it like that". "They have friends come in the weekends. We always put extra lunches on. We try to keep it normal for them."
That normality is something the children often aren't used to.
One child said to a social worker: "It's amazing. Look, I just put this out there last night and my washing is back all folded'," Linda said.
"It's just basic stuff. They're very easily pleased."
"The little ones just want love and hugs, and those are the easy things."
The older children help the younger ones, and over dinner they work out between themselves who is doing the dishes.
"Although they don't end up doing that many dishes because they cram as much as possible into the dishwasher," Bob said.
"I often think, 'how did they get that in there?'"
Bob and Linda's daughter and son-in-law are relief foster carers in Masterton, and the family help is a bonus, like the time the family worked from midnight till 4am one Christmas morning to fill the house with Christmas decorations for when the children woke.
"They said the decorations were better than the presents."
The Surtees' try to take an outing every couple of weeks, and if they go somewhere busy there's a rule: "If you get lost, wait by a rubbish bin, so we can find you."
The saddest part of foster care is often when the children leave, but Bob and Linda always leave the door open.
"We never actually do say a final goodbye. We still have texts from Auckland and Dunedin: 'I'm still being good', or 'I haven't been kicked out of school yet,'" Linda said. "So you see how many rewards there are."