Factors influencing decision to become a foster family: A qualitative research on protective families

Childhood stage, which constitutes the most critical developmental period of human life; It is very effective in being an individual, directing his life, healthy social and psychological development, self-perception and formation of personality. A healthy infancy and childhood is effective in the formation of a healthy adulthood and healthy society. Individuals develop within their families; It is the fundamental right of every child to spend critical periods with a healthy, supportive and sensitive family. Some children cannot live with their biological families due to the conditions of the families responsible for raising them. Children who cannot continue their lives with their biological families continue their lives in institutions under the Ministry of Family and Social Services. Rather than staying in institutional care for the benefit of these children; It is very important to benefit from alternative services. To ensure child welfare, to ensure that children spend their developmental processes in a family environment that they can trust; Providing care under the supervision of a suitable family is called foster family service. In the study, it was aimed to determine the factors that are effective in deciding to become a foster family, to explore which factors are more important in deciding to become a foster family, and to explore the experiences experienced after becoming a foster family. The research was carried out on families residing in Manavgat district of Antalya province, actively providing foster family services as registered in official status, and participating in the study on a voluntary basis. The phenomenological approach was used as the research design. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with semi-structured interview forms. The interviews lasted approximately 45 minutes. Data analysis program called MAXQDA 2020 was used in the analysis of the interviews. As a result of the research, suggestions were made to increase the number of foster families in a qualified way.