A ray of hope for unfortunate kids
"We believe that every child is a gift of God and deserves love and care, that's why my wife and I committed ourselves to fostering."
Marine East Division Senior Police Constable Mr Lee Shu-sang, who has fostered six children during the past eight months, told OffBeat that the idea of fostering unfortunate kids first came to him in 1995 when he heard of his colleague's experience as foster parents.
"I was really moved by my colleague's meaningful act but I didn't follow in his footsteps immediately because my two daughters were so young that they still needed my full attention."
Six years later, Mr Lee and his wife determined to dedicate themselves to the foster care service. "After we filed our application to the Social Welfare Department, the staff conducted a number of checks and paid a visit to our home to see if we were suitable to provide a foster care service.
"After passing through all the checks, we started to foster kids. Unlike other ordinary foster families, we specialise in providing urgent foster care service to children and the duration of the service for each child is usually no longer than six weeks," Mr Lee explained.
Their first foster child was a 20-month-old boy. Mrs Lee said: "During the first few days, he opened all the drawers and messed up everything in the house.
"So, we gently introduced some discipline and it worked! Improvement was eventually seen in his behaviour and even his mum was surprised at the great changes in her spoilt son."
Mr Lee told OffBeat that they always got nervous whenever their foster children fell sick.
"I once had a big argument with a doctor because I was not satisfied with the way he was treating my 12-day-old foster daughter suffering from severe diarrhoea. You see, my wife and I treated all our foster children as our own and we couldn't bear seeing them suffer any pain."
Mrs Lee added: "Taking care of sick children was really exhausting but once you saw their innocent smiles and that wonderful childlike sparkle in their eyes, you could forget all your tiredness and pain."
Fostering not only offered the Lee family opportunities to help those in need but also had a rejuvenating effect on their own family life.
"The relationship between me and my two daughters has actually improved since we started fostering. In the past, I was a very serious and strict father. Through fostering, I have learned how to be friendlier with children and now I can talk to my daughters as close friends," Mr Lee noted.
Mr Lee's benevolent act has also inspired his two daughters, Shuk-ying and Shuk-man. Both girls agreed that they had learned how to take care of unfortunate people and how to share their happiness with others.
They said: "We loved talking and making friends with those kids. We also helped mum to do some of the housework so that she could give more attention to them."
If you and your spouse wish to join the Lee family in providing a loving home to children in need, please contact the Central Foster Care Unit of Social Welfare Department at 2852-4596. 
Mr Lee, his wife and two daughters, sharing their love and home with foster children.