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MO The Pelyk’s have fostered 120 children in 25 years .. . but who’s counting? It is a picture you would probably see in a lot of Cana- dian photo albums: a patient yellow lab — resigned to his fate — wearing a pink tutu and surrounded by beaming little girls. This photo album, though, is different. The jumbo-sized book features different kids on almost every page: freckled faces, beach balls, velvet dresses, boys with buckets, lit candles on birthday cakes, sleepy little people lounging on hammocks, kids with cows. It is a collection of love, carefully put together by Port Perry’s Sue Pelyk, a foster mother who has welcomed and nurtured more than 120 children in her Scugog Island home for the last 25 years. Some stay for years, others overnight, as Sue and her husband Tim respond to the short-term and emergency needs of children brought into care by the Durham Children’s Aid Society. “There are things wrong in their homes, each child has a different reason that you could write a book about,” explains Sue. “The ultimate goal is to return children to their natural families.” In the meantime though, Sue creates a temporary family for the young people —ranging from newborn in- fants to older teens — who walk through her front door. “It's amom thing,” says Sue, mother to two adult children and one adopted teen of her own. “They need continuity, which sometimes you can’t give them,” says Sue. “I don’t know how you can change what they’ve been through. Some of them will never be right. I used to think I could fix every kid, but you can’t. You do your best and make a difference. You can put them on the right path.” Jennifer Moore is a resource worker with the Durham Children’s Aid society. She works with Sue. “Sue has been a foster parent for us for over 25 years now. She's an awe- some foster parent. Sue has a great sense of humour,” says Jennifer. “The thing that is really wonderful about Sue and her family is how they treat their foster children, just like they were their own children. You can’t tell the difference, and ideally that is what you want.” In fact, when Sue lists off what a foster parent needs to succeed, they really are characteristics that most good parents have: “You have to Above - The Pelyk’s daughter Amanda, left, taken with her three foster sisters in 2002. Maggie, Keir and Keely. )pposite page - The Pelyk family on their front porch in May 2013. Pictured from back Jeft, Tim, Keely and Sue; front left, Maggie and Keir. have a lot of patience. You can’t be selfish. You have to be able to stop what you are doing, and do other Please turn to page 8 FOCUS - JULY 2013 5