Dealing with academic stress and teen romance

Mr Bhaskar Peri and Mrs Hema Peri find fostering a teenager an entirely different challenge from the other five children they have fostered over the last six years.

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Mr Peri, an account manager in a technology firm, says: "It's like starting a new adventure compared with caring for smaller kids. If you have been raising a child from a young age, you can gauge his or her reactions and moods.

"It may seem easier to care for teens because they know how to express themselves, unlike young kids, where you have to find out what they need. On the other hand, if teens don't want to talk, they won't."

The couple, who declined to reveal their ages, are Singapore permanent residents from India who have been married for 15 years.

Their current foster child, aged 14, has been living with them for 21/2 years, the longest any of the children have been with them.

Their other charges - some of whom stayed with them as briefly as a weekend or six months ranged in age from one to 12 years old.

They have never wanted to bear children of their own.