The festive season is a time for family and loved ones. Children squeal with delight as they unwrap gifts that they’ve had their eyes on for weeks under the Christmas tree. But it is not like that for every child. Some do not have the privilege of a family Christmas. Some do not even have a loving family home to call their own.

When the general atmosphere during the festive season is one of togetherness, kindness, giving and charity, what could possibly be greater than offering a loving home to a child that doesn’t have one? While, in theory, everyone will agree, in reality, there are many fears surrounding what it really means to foster a child. So let’s look at the bigger picture.

1. Every child deserves a loving home

Children may be placed in foster care for various reasons. Young mothers may be unable to look after their offspring until they are more settled in life. A family may be facing serious disease or dire financial difficulties. Domestic violence or other conditions may cause an unstable environment for the children, causing them to be removed from their natural family for their own protection. The parents may not always be willing to give the children up completely by allowing their adoption. They hope the situation may change.

The children remain in a limbo state, with a family they cannot or rarely see and no opportunity to start afresh with a new one. They are the victims of all the scenarios that have put them into foster care, even if a brighter future may lie ahead, some day. But children need more than food, shelter and affection. They need a sense of belonging. They need a sense of ‘normality.’ They need a real family. And you can give them that. Even a single person can foster - individual attention is key.

2. It’s a great opportunity to do something good

If you are a believer in the value of doing good to others, what could possibly be a greater act of charity than offering a loving home and family to an innocent child? Waking up in a real house, having breakfast with a foster mother and father, and perhaps foster siblings too, and being dressed and sent to school like any other child are invaluable experiences in the formation of a child. Moreover, returning to a parent who will ask how their day was and giving them the individual attention they need and deserve, as well as spending the rest of the day in a home environment are also crucial. And, they can even go to bed feeling safe and loved.

Foster homes, where several children are placed in a home with a rotation of carers, do their best, but simply cannot offer the kind of individual attention and security children really need. The kind you can give.

3. You can commit for only as much as you can manage

If you can’t commit to taking in a child full-time, you can build a relationship with one child and take them for the weekends, public holidays and special occasions, for example. Or four days a week. Or whatever you can manage, really. Any sense of family and home comfort is better than none at all.

It is better to start with little and increase if you feel you could handle more, than to start with a commitment you’ll find too hard to handle and have to reduce. The last thing we want is for the child to feel rejected again. Age is another thing to consider - teens may actually find it harder to accept their situation and behave more rebelliously than younger kids. Check in with yourself how much you are willing and able to give, speak to the specialist councillors, and take your decision from there.

4. It is a truly selfless act of charity

Whatever you are able to do will be the most wonderful act of charity. You do not foster to have, but to give. Give a home. Give attention. Give love. Having simply does not come into the equation because you know the child may return to his or her natural family at any time.

Even one’s own children can barely be called one's own - children come into our care through the gift of life itself, but we do not possess them. They eventually grow into adults and all we can hope to do is offer them the best chances of success and happiness. And with fostering, that is what you are here to do: offer a child the best chances of success and happiness, no matter who gave birth to them.

5. There’s no greater opportunity to love unconditionally

The ideal scenario is the reunification of children with their natural families, especially if the causes for separation were familial crises such as financial difficulty, or the illness or death of a parent. If it is in their best interest to return to their natural parents, fostering can contribute to helping children re-integrate within their natural family.

Children may feel traumatised by the experience of being abandoned or separated from their families and fostering offers them a family environment, whereby they can get the love and security they need. In any case, fostering aims to provide a safe, nurturing family who will recognise the child's needs and fulfil them, regardless whether the child stays for a year or a decade. What truly matters is the provision of the stability that children need in order to develop their abilities and character.

6. The reward of love is immeasurable

Having said that, most fostered children grow to develop very sincere affection and gratitude towards their foster family, and many maintain a relationship with them even after having returned to their natural family. Many others may never make it back and begin to consider their foster family as their real family.

But true love is not possessive and the benefits reaped by the child from the experience of living with a foster family are so deep and enduring, that your act of giving unconditional love becomes the greatest love of all, felt within the core of your being, and far more precious than any love one might hope to receive.

7. It is not difficult to get involved

If you are considering fostering in Malta, contact Agenzija Appogg on: 22959000 | 99010533 | 99557704, and connect to the Fostering Service - Malta Facebook page. You will get all the information and support you need.

When a family decides to foster children, they are given training and financial support. In addition, children living with foster carers have a social worker dedicated to them, and another to the fostering family for support.

Go on, just consider it. Considering it takes no investment at all and the ultimate all-round benefits are too great to go amiss without consideration.