Cheryl Nash has come full circle in life.As a child, she was placed into foster care and flourished.Now, for the past year, Cheryl has worked in the area of recruitment, assessment and training of new foster carers for Ballarat's Child and Family Services."I feel very grateful for my life," she said.Cheryl grew up in Melbourne as one of six children. Her family was separated and at the age of four, she went into a children's home run by Anglican nuns in Brighton.Then, at the age of nine, Cheryl went into foster care. A couple, whose six children had grown up, took her under their wing on their New South Wales farm."They had a very positive input into my life," she said."It was those years when you do a lot of your growth, with your core values and you try to figure out who you are."In my experience, even though it wasn't a great start in life, I was able to get that care and nurturing."The down to earth, hard-working farming couple valued education."I really see that that experience gave me that love of learning and striving to achieve and a good work ethic," Cheryl said.At the age of 13, she left the farm and moved back into the children's home in the hope she would be reunited with her sisters, but they had since left the home.Cheryl never forgot her foster carers, who she called her `parents', keeping in touch with them until they died years later.At 17, she farewelled the children's home and began the next phase of her life.She married, had three daughters and a son, went to university and gained a degree in psychology, before running a business with her husband, Anthony.After 13 years of marriage, Anthony died from illness and, with her three daughters grown up, Cheryl embarked on a new life in America with her son.After travelling, she settled in Texas and later married American Stephen Downing.In 2001, the couple's house was destroyed in tropical storm Allison, which flooded more than 70,000 homes, left 30,000 people homeless, killed 41 people and left a damage bill of US$6.7 billion.Just months later, the September 11 attacks, prompted Cheryl and Stephen to relocate to Australia.They settled in Ballarat and opened a Tex Mex restaurant, The Santa Fe, in Sturt St.A few years later, Cheryl was looking for a new challenge when she saw a position advertised with Child and Family Services and jumped at the chance to give something back to foster care."I just love this job," she said.At the moment, the organisation urgently needs 20 foster carer families.Cheryl said foster carers could turn a child's world around and help shape their future."I just want people to know that it doesn't take much to make a difference to a child's life," she said.With three grandchildren, and another on the way, Cheryl said her life could have turned out a lot differently if it hadn't been for her foster care family."I hate to imagine what a parallel life would have been like for me," she said."I actually feel incredibly lucky."For more information on foster care, adoption or permanent care phone 5337 3333.