What are the Key Profiles of Potential Foster Families in Portugal?

This Portuguese study mapped the characteristics and motivations of adults most likely to become foster families, offering new directions for child welfare initiatives across the country. Relying on a nationally representative sample, the research results have the potential to inform recruitment strategies for prospective foster families.

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While 418 children are currently placed in foster family care, according to the 2024 campaign promoted by the Portuguese Government, more than 6000 children in Portugal are in need of a foster family. In this scenario, informing recruitment strategies for prospective foster families is essential to guarantee that more children at risk benefit from the love and support of family foster care.

In this study, the research team used a framework called the COM-B model to understand why people might choose to become foster parents. This model looks at three main factors that influence behavior, here applied to foster care: Capability: Whether someone has the skills, knowledge, or physical ability to foster a child; Opportunity: Whether the environment or situation around a person makes fostering possible, like having support from their family or access to resources; and Motivation: Whether a person feels inspired or motivated to become a foster parent, like caring about children or wanting to help.

The research team surveyed a representative sample of the Portuguese population over 25 (the legal age for being a foster carer) on different aspects relating to foster care and, specifically, the COM-B model. According to lead author Eunice Magalhães, researcher at Iscte’s Centre for Psychological Research and Social Intervention (CIS-Iscte), “to understand whether someone can become a foster parent, we looked at things like how confident people feel about parenting, their personality traits, and their mental and physical health (capability)”, all of which affect whether someone can handle caregiving responsibilities. Also, the research team examined how much social support people have from friends or family, and how well their family functions (opportunity), factors that make fostering easier or harder. To assess why someone might want to foster (motivation), they considered common reasons found in previous studies, such as caring for children, wanting to support their own family, or personal reasons. “We also looked at how aware people are of fostering, how willing they are, and their intentions to become foster parents.”, stated Eunice Magalhães. “These give an idea of how ready someone is to take this step.”, the researcher explained.

Using all this information, people were grouped into three different profiles based on how open they are to becoming foster parents. Joana Baptista (CIS-Iscte) clarifies that, overall, “some participants showed high awareness, willingness, and intention to foster, which we labeled as ‘Ready Responders’; others seemed to be willing but possess only moderate awareness and intention, which were labeled as ‘Willing Wavered’; and people who exhibited low levels across all indicators were labeled as ‘Reluctant Bystanders’”. But what distinguishes these profiles?

Findings revealed that having children and contact with the child protection system together with greater social well-being and self-efficacy significantly influenced a person’s likelihood of being in the more interested profiles. “We found that these participants were more inclined to consider fostering, possibly due to greater confidence in their parental role or a heightened sense of well-being.”, said Joana Baptista. Conversely, individuals without children or without prior contact with child services were more often categorized as reluctant.

Foster care can serve as an alternative family environment helpful to a child's development, supporting their likelihood of reaching their full potential. However, foster care shortages continue to impact children at risk’s development in Portugal and worldwide. Based on the results of this study, the authors emphasize the importance of targeted outreach campaigns that promote awareness and highlight child-centered motivations, such as providing love and a safe environment as well as one’s self-efficacy. Campaigns that leverage current foster parents as ambassadors were also recommended as a promising strategy to accelerate foster family recruitment. Ideally, these efforts should be tailored to each profile. “By adapting communication strategies to fit the motivational and capability levels of different groups, we can address the foster family shortage more efficiently and ensure vulnerable children find the supportive families they need," Eunice Magalhães concludes.

This study was published in journal Child Abuse & Neglect and was co-authored by Patrício Costa (ICVS/3B’s; FPCEUP), Leonor d’Eça (Iscte), Mariana Matoso (Iscte), Vânia S. Pinto (Rees Centre, University of Oxford; Leeds Trinity University), Sofia Ferreira (CIS-Iscte) and João Graça (University of Groningen) and was funded by “la Caixa” Foundation (Project: FP23-1B023).

Text written by Pedro Simão Mendes (Science Communication Manager)