Dr Krish Kandiah, founder of Home for Good, told Premier fostering is not like how films portray it to be.
"We don't want people to go in with rose tinted glasses about it, like it's going to be just like Despicable Me or Anne of Green Gables or Annie...that the children have no ongoing challenges and it isn't going to be hard," he said.
"On the other side, I think it's been the most fulfilling thing our family has done."
Kandiah, who's been a foster parent for eleven years, urged people to think about fostering after a new You Gov survey found that nearly half of people don't foster because they don't think they will get support.
However, foster charity Barnados, said 8 in 10 carers are happy with the level of support and advice they receive from its fostering service, while Kandiah said a lot of support is available, and churches can be a big help too.
"We've needed around 7,000 to 9,000 new foster families a year across the UK for some time," he said.
"We need them so children who are brothers and sisters can be placed together, we need them so children don't have to commute too far and so they can stay in the same school where they've still got friends and a social network.
"Our church has been a lifeline, whether that's meals people have provided, support to us and babysitting. There's brilliant ways churches can offer tangible support for people that do this."
The survey also found that other deterrents from fostering include people not feeling confident they can look after a foster child, and not having any training on how to be a foster carer could be an issue.
Kandiah told Premier News Hour about other deterrents: "There's a perception problem, a lot of people think fostering is for other people.
"There seems to be a bit of a class barrier. People think fostering is there for people who need some money and who don't have qualifications and it's an easy way to earn some money."
He encouraged people to not go into fostering with "their eyes blinkered" but said it's an "amazing" chance to make a difference in a child's life.
Listen to Dr Krish Kandiah speaking with Premier's Alex Williams here:
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