Foster care: from research to emerging training needs

Abstract

In several European and non-European countries, foster care is becoming the most frequent reception strategy in cases of child protection, especially for younger children. However, the studies highlight the problems of a complex educational intervention, entrusted entirely to volunteers, not always adequately selected, trained and supported in a path full of difficulties. We will present below the results of a survey, carried out in Piedmont with mixed technique, on 39 "community families" and on their foster care children (408 minors received in 25 years). The study aims to better define the conditions of foster care, the characteristics of the minors in custody, their life trajectories, emerging educational problems and the lines of solution. The in-depth analysis of the cases with different methods and tools (documentary analysis, hermeneutic interviews with families, minutes of monthly support meetings, collection of narratives of foster carers, foster parents, families of origin) allows to identify the training needs and interventions of support needed.