There are calls for the Government to get serious about foster parenting.
The Vulnerable Children's Ministry want to take on 1000 more foster parents in a bid to improve the quality of state care for children.
Henare O'Keefe has fostered more than 200 children and said it's a 24/7 job.
"It's relentless. It never lets up. The best you have within you - it's required time and time again."
Mr O'Keefe said if the Government are serious about foster parenting they need to pay them a decent wage.
"Foster parents are an investment. They're not a liability," he told Newshub. "If you let them get in there and work their magic, they're going to save you a hell of a lot of inconvenience and costs further down the track."
Linda Surtees, CEO of Fostering Kids, agrees, saying the more support parents are given, the better the outcomes are for the children.
"Foster parents desperately need to be trained and supported to provide the highest level of care that they can," she told Paul Henry on Wednesday.
"These children have been through quite a significant amount of trauma and we need to support these families to heal them in care, not just hold them in care."
Although Ms Surtees admits 1000 new foster parents is a "rather ambitious" target, she says it is the right number to aim for.
Currently there are around 5000 children in state care with just over 3500 foster parents registered with Child Youth and Family.
The maximum weekly allowance for those families is $204.46.
Mr O'Keefe says foster parents should be paid just as much as social workers and it's time the Government put its money where its mouth is.
"If the Government is serious about foster parents, it needs to pay them. It needs to treat them like professionals."
Newshub.
