Why do people become a foster parent? Insights from a national study

Magalhães, Eunice, Carvalho, Helena, Matoso, Mariana, Pinto, Vânia S., Costa, Patrício, Ferreira, Sofia, Baptista, Joana, Anjos, Catarina and Graça, João (2026) Why do people become a foster parent? Insights from a national study. Children and Youth Services Review, 180. ISSN 0190-7409

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Abstract

Objective: Many countries face a shortfall in the number of foster families needed to support maltreated children. This study aims to explore the drivers and barriers to becoming a foster family and to identify clusters derived from these drivers/barriers and their association with sociodemographic factors. Method: A representative sample of 1,066 Portuguese adults (Mage = 52.76, SD = 14.92) responded to a survey assessing sociodemographic characteristics, awareness, willingness, and intention to foster and two open-ended questions related with enablers and barriers to becoming foster carers. Results: Three profiles emerged: Material Resources (9.2% of participants), linked to material factors such as housing and economic resources; Personal Traits and Characteristics (23.0% of participants), associating the decision to become a foster family with various individual attributes and capabilities; and Child-centered Motivations (67.8% of participants), where the drivers to become a foster family focused on children and altruistic motivations, and barriers centered on personal and familial fears and threats, and child protection constraints. Differences regarding awareness, willingness and intention to foster, gender, marital status, education, family income, and having children significantly distinguished clusters. Conclusions: The identification of these profiles, based on enablers and barriers to becoming a foster parent, can inform tailoring recruitment strategies that align with the specific needs and characteristics of prospective foster families.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data availability: The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to ethical and privacy reasons, as the participants of this study did not give consent for their data to be shared publicly.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	foster care,enablers,barriers,clusters,recruitment
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Social Work
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Research on Children and Families
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	31 Mar 2026 15:30
Last Modified:	31 Mar 2026 19:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102690
DOI:	10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108686

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