Acogimiento familiar en familia educadora en la provincia de Alicante, España: características de los recursos disponibles

Ignasi Navarro Soria,Borja Costa López,Marta Real Fernández

doi:10.5209/cuts.66208

Abstract

Foster care is a determining resource for the child protection system. The scientific evidence shows that the psychosocial benefits of foster care for minors within the protection system are superior to those that can be provided by residential resource centres. Hence, during the last decade in Spain, work has been done to establish foster care as a priority resource. The objective of our work is focused on describing what type of families make up the Family Foster Care resource of the Province of Alicante and their parenting styles. A total of 207 people (72 minors and 132 foster parents) were evaluated, applying the following: 1) an ad hoc questionnaire composed of 12 questions; and 2) The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire consisting of 42 items (Spanish adaptation from Servera, 2007). More than 50% of the families are nuclear families and do not have biological children, with the duration of the foster care exceeding two years. The reconstituted families stand out due to its parental involvement and positive upbringing, while the nuclear and single-parent families show higher scores in consistent discipline. It is essential to know the profile of the foster families in order to achieve an adequate foster care process for minors.

Highlights

IntroductionInternational regulations such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that was adopted in 1989 (Unicef Spanish National Committee, 2006) and the Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption that was published in the Spanish Official State Gazette in 1995, emphasize the duty, both of institutions and of society itself, to ensure the satisfaction of the basic needs of minors, to protect them from cruelty and exploitation, and to respect their right to receive alternatives to in the face of abandonment or lack of care.That is why in just over two decades, Spain has evolved from a charitable model, characterised by policies which favour the institutionalisation of children, to a child protection system, quite similar to that of the models used in many other European countries
That is why in just over two decades, Spain has evolved from a charitable model, characterised by policies which favour the institutionalisation of children, to a child protection system, quite similar to that of the models used in many other European countries
Considering the type of family fostering in terms of kinship, 12,564 (36%) were welcomed into kinship care compared to 6,981 (64%) who were in non-relative foster care

Summary

Introduction

International regulations such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that was adopted in 1989 (Unicef Spanish National Committee, 2006) and the Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption that was published in the Spanish Official State Gazette in 1995, emphasize the duty, both of institutions and of society itself, to ensure the satisfaction of the basic needs of minors, to protect them from cruelty and exploitation, and to respect their right to receive alternatives to in the face of abandonment or lack of care.That is why in just over two decades, Spain has evolved from a charitable model, characterised by policies which favour the institutionalisation of children, to a child protection system, quite similar to that of the models used in many other European countries. According to the data published by The Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality (2018), during 2018 in Spain there were 49,985 minors who were assisted by the protection system (which is an increase of 5.2% compared to 2017 with 47,493 minors). Considering the type of family fostering in terms of kinship, 12,564 (36%) were welcomed into kinship care (a family environment with relatives or extended family members) compared to 6,981 (64%) who were in non-relative foster care. This majority regarding kinship care has been maintained over the years. 1,270 were left out of this system and they were moved to a residential care facility

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