Couple's daughters are big sisters to foster kids

Mr Bob Chia and Ms Lee May Ling chose to foster a teen when their own children hit their late teens.

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Their first foster child arrived at the age of 13, about four years ago. Their daughters were then 18 and 19 years old.

"We thought the age gap would not be too wide," says Ms Lee, 52, an administrative manager in the construction industry. She hoped the children would be able to relate to one another better, compared with if they had fostered a baby instead.

Mr Chia, 52, a sales director in an IT services firm, adds: "The whole family is involved in fostering a child. Our girls could play a 'jie jie' (big sister in Chinese) role."

The four of them used to visit a children's home in Johor Bahru annually, and Mr Chia has been a volunteer counsellor in Prison Fellowship Singapore a Chris tian nonprofit that supports prisoners, former offenders and their families - for 20 years.

"Many convicts and their children don't have a chance in life; almost all of them were from broken homes. I saw a need to open up our home to children who may come from troubled families, before they reach adulthood.

"They may have a turning point in their lives before they go out into the world to work," says Mr Chia, who adds that he had been praying for years for the right opportunity to present itself.

That moment came in 2021, when they read a report in The Straits Times about more couples choosing to take up fostering, which Ms Lee posted to the family group chat with a simple question: "How?"

For the first time, everyone voted aye to welcoming a foster child.