Abstract
International norms do not diffuse linearly; they are localized, adapted and contested at every turn. Foster care systems have been enthusiastically promoted by international organizations to serve the best interests of children. This study explores the recent adaptation of foster care (Koruyucu Aile) in Turkey. This elite-driven norm change was institutionalized through comprehensive legislation, economic incentives and national campaigns, situated in the “politics of responsibility” arising from moral duty and national and religious ethics. These efforts faced early resistance, leading to slow cultivation of foster families, while over time, the foster system found unlikely allies among urban middle-class women. Using Zimmermann’s typologies of reinterpretation of norms through an analysis of narratives about foster parenting in 50 local and national TV productions, this article shows how the foster family system has evolved as a panacea for women’s empowerment in contemporary Turkish society. In parallel, Turkey has embarked on an intense criticism of the care of ethnic Turkish children in European foster care systems. However, this creative utilization of the foster system has come at the cost of the rights of biological parents and a permanency that has decoupled the Turkish foster care system from its counterparts around the world.
Highlights
The Politics of Foster Children in Studies have shown that international norms do not spread around the world in a linear manner; they are localized and translated as they are adapted, contested at every turn, substituted as needed and in some cases, rejected outright (Acharya 2004; Zimmermann2017)
This paper studies the recent transition of the Turkish care system from orphanages to family and foster care under the concept of Koruyucu Aile (Protective Family)
(2017) model of norm translation, this paper shows that state-level discourse on the politics of responsibility and moral obligations in family life has created challenges for these foster care programs
Summary
The Politics of Foster Children in Studies have shown that international norms do not spread around the world in a linear manner; they are localized and translated as they are adapted, contested at every turn, substituted as needed and in some cases, rejected outright Based on narratives about foster parenting in approximately 50 local and national TV productions and accounts of the experiences of foster families in non-governmental, government and media accounts, this paper provides an analysis of the narratives surrounding the Koruyucu Aile system in Turkey. It shows that the current application of the foster care regime in Turkey has diverged from other international models in terms of its interpretation of the foster parent–child relationships at the expense of biological parent relationships. This has legitimized state interventions on behalf of select Turkish children abroad and their biological parents, even as domestic foster children’s relationships with their biological parents are marginalized in evolving interpretations of the country’s foster care system
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