Why did you start fostering?

We first started fostering after seeing an advert in the local paper asking for people to help teenagers move into independent living. We tried this and our first placement went really well and moved on successfully. We still stay in touch today.

We moved onto more permanent places with training and it was done as a family with everyone involved. We had teenagers through quite a few years (having six children of our own) and they always played an important part of the fostering, being good role models to other children.

We were used to having a house full of children, either our own or others, friends of our family and eventually girlfriends of our sons. They always made everyone very welcome and were not fazed by people coming to live with us at all. That made us feel comfortable with what we were doing, we all worked together.

As we took on more and more placements, we were feeling we wanted children to share in the very happy upbringing our own children had. The location we live in lends itself to having a lot of freedom in safety.

We felt we could offer a place where people live who don't argue or fight, where it is happy and safe and everyone gets on and another take on family life, where hopefully they would know that there are choices in life as to how you live.

What do you feel you have gained from fostering?

We feel we've learned from fostering that we can care for a child in care exactly the same way as one of our own children. We can take them into our own home, treat them well and make them feel happy.

We can extend ourselves to others as well as our own family. Our own family have gained compassion towards others and the rewards coming back to us from the love and care we have put in have been enormous.

We have kept in touch with a lot of our placements and they have told us we made a big difference to their lives and they were happy here.

We've also gained by meeting other foster carers and have made some great friends who support each other. A lot of us have had the same placements at some point so we know the children's "little ways".

We've gained a whole social group within fostering and they are definitely like-minded people who care so much.

If you were to meet a potential foster carer, what advice would you offer?

We would say to any potential foster carer that they are bound to be apprehensive about living and looking after a child and taking them into their own home and family. It's a huge responsibility, but anyone who is compassionate to the needs of a scared and sad child can do it and the rewards will be huge.

We all need each other, we don't exist on our own. We are co-dependent on each other and it needn't only be family we care for, we can care for others and do so much good for them.

We can't change them but we can help change their lives and give them positive experiences, it's a time they will never forget.

We'd say, try fostering, and use your time and skills to make a valuable contribution to society. You can work from home and make a big difference to someone's life. Fostering has moved forward and foster carers are treated with the greatest respect for what they do. Our basic philosophy is to help each other and we ask ourselves "who is my family?

To find out more about fostering use the Powys County Council link on this page and go to Fostering.

Question and answer session with Caroline Mears