It was 20 years ago that Terry McCallum welcomed a little girl with a big personality into her home.

“It was definitely an eye-opener,” McCallum recalled Thursday of her first fostering experience.

McCallum and her husband had decided after their own children were grown that they would become foster parents.

As so many parents – whether their kids come to them biologically, through adoption or the foster system – know, all the preparation in the world can’t prepare them for the reality a little one brings.

“This child was particularly head-strong,” McCallum said with a smile. She recalled the girl pretty much coming in and essentially telling the family, “I’m here, and you’re going to love me.”

For nine months, McCallum and the family did just that, providing care and support for the child until she could go back to her birth mother.

“She was able to go home,” McCallum said.

That’s the ultimate goal in the foster system, she noted, with foster families like hers being part of the team providing support to the children and their families.

Two decades later, McCallum and the girl stay in touch as McCallum and her family continue to welcome youngsters into their home.

This week, McCallum’s family and another 70-plus foster families are being honoured as part of National Foster Family Week, with training opportunities and an appreciation dinner.

At the same time, recruitment efforts are underway to ensure there are safe homes with welcoming families available to the approximately 100 children in care. They range anywhere in age from newborns to 18.

A poster campaign has been launched aimed at getting Yukoners to think about becoming foster families and dispelling misconceptions people may have about requirements they need to meet.

As Health and Social Services Minister Mike Nixon said Thursday at the campaign launch held at the Canada Games Centre: “Foster parents can be single or married, old or young, male or female.

“They can live in an apartment, a double-wide, a house or a cabin in the woods. There is no special formula other than their commitment to care for and love a child.”

There is no doubt there are challenges in providing foster care, said McCallum and Marilyn Lawrence, another foster parent of 20 years, but the rewards far outweigh the challenges.

“It’s been the happiest years of my life,” McCallum told those gathered for the launch as she recalled a former foster child coming to her door for a visit last year.

McCallum and Lawrence said they have opened their doors to children needing everything from emergency to long-term care.

In fact, with three kids who have been part of her family now for 15-plus years, Lawrence jokes about whether her eldest – now in her 20s with an infant of her own – might leave the nest.

On a more serious note, she’s happy to have her home.

It was about 14 years ago that Lawrence received a call from the birth mother of the child she was fostering. The woman, pregnant and knowing she couldn’t look after the baby, asked Lawrence if she would look after both her children.

For Lawrence, being a foster parent was something she knew she wanted to do from the time she was a young child. She’d spend time with her grandmother, who provided foster care.

McCallum has adopted four children who came to her home through the foster system.

In one case, the child’s birth mother asked McCallum to formally adopt after seeing the relationship McCallum had with the youngster.

As the child’s birth mother explained, though she was the birth mother, McCallum was “his daily mom.”

Taking on the responsibility of care for foster children who may stay for a very short time or perhaps years is not without its challenges, which can often be as individual as the child.

It’s through an approximately six-month assessment process – a time for both the territory’s foster care system and prospective foster parents to assess whether they will be a good match for the program – that families are provided with initial training through the PRIDE program, which deals with a range of topics foster families could face.

Further training is available and specific to the families and children. If a child has a particular disability, for example, foster parents may be able to obtain training on how to best help that child.

“We’re so small, we’re able to do those things,” said Simone Fournel, the government’s manager of child placement and support services.

The department is looking at ways to enhance training for foster families, she added.

The department also works to address families’ individual challenges.

Perhaps foster parents need more respite assistance. Family counselling may be in order, or it might help to have a worker come to the house on a regular basis; it all depends on what the family is dealing with, Fournel said.

“It’s very individual,” she said.

Next week will see workshops offered to foster families in the territory. Topics will range from parenting in the public eye to the team work needed among all those involved in foster care.

The events will feature presentations by Landy Anderson, a foster parent who has also worked in the foster care system, who wrote The Foster Parent Survival Guide.

While current foster parents can take in those presentations, those considering becoming foster parents are encouraged to contact staff at the department.

Further information is available at http://www.hss.gov.yk.ca/fostercare.php