The role of fostering associations in the development of fostering

The primary priority for children in need is care in their own family, however if this is not possible, they are looked after outside the family. Out-of-home care includes models of institutional care, adoption and fostering. In developed countries, fostering occupies an important place within care models. However, fostering has not developed enough in Turkey. Therefore, within this qualitative research, primarily the reasons behind this will be explored, then whether structures like independent fostering agencies in the UK could be used in order to improve the fostering in Turkey will be examined with the NGO perspective. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with NGOs dealing with the issue. According to the results of this study; it has been concluded that it is necessary to increase promotion activities for the fostering, to improve the staff both in quality and quantity, to increase the payments made to the foster families and support professional fostering. The interviews show that the fostering associations in our country have similar functions (education, publicity, psycho-social support) to independent fostering agencies in England, but they need to be improved. The reason for that is that fostering associations are inadequate both in terms of human resources and financial capacity. Therefore, it has been concluded that fostering associations should be supported both financially and spiritually.