Abstract
Act no. 142/2015 highlights the importance of children out-of-home being placed in a family context. However, foster care continues to be an almost absent component in the Portuguese childcare system. In 2017, it corresponded to just 3% of out-of-home care. This research aims to contribute to the understanding of the reasons for becoming a foster family. It adopted a qualitative approach, using carers’ narrative interviews and practitioners semi-structured interviews, inspired by grounded theory. Foster family motivation is rooted in altruism, affection for children and sensitivity to maltreatment. These factors, as well as personal life course and contact with out-of-home care, induce a predisposition to become a foster family. The quality of the support services and the care professionals’ performance also reveal key elements.
Highlights
The European welfare states present different backgrounds and responses on childhood welfare, an issue quite visible in foster care
Foster care is weakly represented in the Portuguese protection system, it is considered the preferred response in the placement of a child, according to national and international recommendations and guidance reinforced by the amendment of the Portuguese law on the protection of children and young people in danger, Act no. 142/2015
Family”, the motivation of people to become foster families is rooted in the valuesplay of altruism, it highlighted that the campaigns of information on foster care performed, as agents supported by affection for children and sensitivity to the mistreatment of children
Summary
The European welfare states present different backgrounds and responses on childhood welfare, an issue quite visible in foster care. The 2018 report on out-of-home care reveals that in 2017, out of 7553 children in out-of-home care in Portugal, only 3% (corresponding to 246 children) were in foster care, reflecting the existence of 7307 children in residential care These data confirm the Delgado (2007) argument that invisibility is one of the significant features of foster care in Portugal, expressing the relative ignorance of foster care in Portuguese society and its poor implementation as a public policy measure. This landscape is observed in the work of the Portuguese scientific community
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