Why do people become foster parents and how to recruit new families? A multi-informant study

Ferreira, Sofia, Magalhães, Eunice, Pinto, Vânia S. and Graça, João (2025) Why do people become foster parents and how to recruit new families? A multi-informant study. Children and Youth Services Review, 177. ISSN 0190-7409

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Abstract

The shortage of foster families in child protection systems worldwide is a critical issue that requires a deeper understanding of culturally situated approaches to recruit new families. This study aimed to explore public awareness of foster care, examine barriers and enablers to becoming a foster family, and draw on behavioural theory to inform the development of outreach and recruitment strategies. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews with 29 participants (14 foster parents, 15 staff; Portugal) and subjected to a thematic analysis. The results suggested that there was limited public knowledge about foster care. Becoming a foster parent was linked both with reflective motivational processes (e.g., child-centred motivations) and the availability of multidimensional resources (e.g., social support), but multi-level constraints were identified as barriers to becoming a foster parent (e.g., worries related to the foster child). Integrated outreach strategies (e.g., combining tailored and mass media approaches) with a range of communication channels and vehicles may raise awareness and enable the recruitment of more foster families. Participants indicated that message content should involve system-related information and evidence about the positive impact of fostering, among other aspects. Overall, this multi-informant study provides conceptually grounded and practice-relevant insights to support the recruitment of prospective foster families.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data availability: Due to the nature of the study and the risk that interview transcripts could directly or indirectly compromise participants’ anonymity, participants were assured that the dataset would not be shared outside the research team. Funding: This study was supported by Portuguese national funds through a doctoral grant from FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I. P. (UI/BD/150992/2021; https://doi.org/10.54499/UI/BD/150992/2021).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	awareness,communication strategies,foster care,foster families,reasons for fostering,recruitment strategies,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:	06 Aug 2025 15:30
Last Modified:	08 Aug 2025 08:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100083
DOI:	10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108460

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