Perceived barriers, drivers and enablers to becoming a foster family. An exploratory study in Portugal

Anjos, Catarina, Magalhães, Eunice, Graça, João, Pinto, Vânia S., Baptista, Joana and Pinheiro, Micaela (2023) Perceived barriers, drivers and enablers to becoming a foster family. An exploratory study in Portugal. Children and Youth Services Review, 145. ISSN 0190-7409

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Abstract

Children and young people that need to be removed from their living environment should be preferably placed in a family care context, rather than in residential care homes. Given the scarcity of foster families in the child protection system, efforts to recruit new families may benefit from evidence about the representations, enablers, and barriers to become a foster family within community samples. The current qualitative study (N = 716, 79 % female, aged between 18 and 76 years old, Portugal) collected data from a set of free word association tasks and open questions about foster families. The results revealed mostly positive representations about foster families and their protective role for children in need (e.g., social appreciation of foster families), although some negative representations were also identified (e.g., ambivalence regarding the role of foster families). The main perceived drivers and enablers to become a foster family included the protective role of foster care (e.g., to promote child development), individual/family resources (e.g., economic resources), and other family factors (e.g., inability to have biological children). The main perceived barriers included the lack of individual and family resources (e.g., economic resources), individual and family constraints (e.g., emotional or health related factors), and constraints related with the foster care system (e.g., bureaucracy, difficulties regarding formal procedures). These findings provide inputs for further research on how to improve the recruitment and retention of new foster families.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Elsevier Ltd
Uncontrolled Keywords:	child protection,foster care,foster families,recruitment,education,developmental and educational psychology,sociology and political science ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3304
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Social Work
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	01 Aug 2025 15:30
Last Modified:	01 Aug 2025 15:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100037
DOI:	10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106811

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