RECRUITING FOSTER CARERS – POLICIES AND PRACTICES FROM A SWEDISH PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The aim of the study is to get an in-depth Knowledge about the recruitment policies and practices of foster carers and also to explore some pre-requisites of foster carers’ recruitment policy from a Swedish perspective in order to make fostering attractive for modern Swedish families where both parents have a professional career. The main questions of the study have been: What is the social services recruitment policy of foster carers? What is a good foster home and how it is being determined? What would be useful to make fostering attractive for younger carers and how to find them?

The study has been selected six respondents (five social workers and one foster family) strategically from different municipalities in Gothenburg. Qualitative method has been used to conduct the study and semi-structured interview has been used to collect empirical data from the respondents.

The findings of the study show that In Sweden foster care is considered as an assignment, it is not an employment. Foster carers get a certain fee for their assignment and they also get money for the costs of the child based on their age. Foster carers are recruited by the guideline of Swedish law, the Social Services Act and the Care of Young Persons Act. According to the law foster carers can be within the Childs’ network or outside the networks and it is related to the best interest of the child and to be a foster home they both have to be investigated. Foster carers are recruited via advertisement or by the existing foster carers’ personal network. Social workers assess the potential foster carers by using the interview which is based on a method elaborated by Kälvesten (Kälvesten & Meldahl: 1982). According to this interview social workers try to assess their three generations information as how they are stable as a family as well as a well-functioning family. To select foster family they usually consider ‘nuclear’ family but recently they also recruit single parent foster family. They always try to match the both Childs’ and foster families’ needs to place a child.

The study also shows that to attract the younger carers need to take some steps such as: give proper information and knowledge, change of attitude about foster care, more support and help, more discussion about it in the whole society, increase authorities and politicians responsibility, treat the foster carers as part of a working team, give foster care another status to identify and with all of these to give them more money is considered also a thing in some extent. Though, the findings are not generalizable. If we want to generalize, there needs a need to conduct further and broad area coverage research on this topic. In that context this study could be a valuable source for the researchers who are interested in this field.