How is defined a foster family in Flanders? What normative acts regulate the functioning of foster families?

A foster family provides a safe family environment for children who can not live at home (temporary) because of parental problems.

Apart from this general definition, there are no clear-cut definitions of foster families. The following types of family foster homes may be distinguished, based on the characteristics of the child looked after and the duration of placement:

• Emergency, short-term placements arranged at short notice, to provide time for the resolution of difficulties that prevent children remaining with their families.
• Respite, short-term placements, often arranged on a regular basis, to support parents and strengthen their capacity to meet the care of their children.
• Short-term, planned placements, for children unable to reside with their families while processes are organized to support the return home.
• Short-term placements for pre-adoptive children.
• Long-term placements.

The first placement option sought for children who need to be placed is within their own kinship network. Potential carers from within the kinship network are also assessed and approval is given to care for a particular child. Carers are entitled to foster care reimbursements. Other support is also available to these foster parents.

The classification presented above is not an official one. Until now the Flemish government has not chosen for an official classification of the types of foster care offered.

Following the constitutional changes of 1980 and 1988, responsibility for youth care was transferred to the communities and a new framework of decrees was introduced. Foster care in Flanders is possible by several regulations. We now describe the main content of these regulations.

Placements in foster families are carried out by private agencies under authorization of and subsidized by the Flemish Community. The foster care agency must undertake a series of tasks:

• Recruitment, screening and training of foster families
• Matching the child to the foster family
• Monitoring the placement situation to see that proper care is given
• Helping the child
• Helping the foster parents
• Helping the parents and making sure that this is according to the care plan.

In Flanders foster care until now is seen as full-time care, twenty-hours a day, outside the child's own home. It is supposed to be a temporary arrangement, with the expectation that the child will return to the parents.

Most of the placements result from a special youth care (youth protection) decision (by the juvenile court or the committee for special youth assistance).

In Flanders a small proportion of placements (almost 10%) is possible by private arrangement and do not result from special youth assistance decisions. This is the case for more preventive types of foster care (some respite or short-term foster care) where parents find themselves temporarily unable to care for their children. Referrals for cases in this type of foster care come from the parents themselves, but also via community services, hospitals, community-based family support agencies.

The more preventive foster placements (e.g. respite care) can be arranged through the mediation of services authorized by a government agency called Child and Family. Child and Family is a government agency commissioned by decree to take care of the health and welfare of families with young children in the Flemish Community.

Foster care services dispose of qualified staff. The experience learns that practitioners, nowadays, are increasingly adopting a more methodical approach. The Flemish Government has made certain aspects of good practice (e.g. the use of care plans) obligatory.

What are requirements for a family to become a foster family?

Foster parents are not asked to bring children up as their own. Although, foster care is still be seen in Flanders as a voluntary job where there is a wish to care for other people's children, foster parents are also required to provide a "professional" caring service. There is the focus on parents' skills and strengths in working with children and in facilitating contact with the family of the child. Foster parents must pay a lot of attention to continuity of emotional ties.

How are foster families trained?

Potential foster parents are given both initial and ongoing training to assist them in their role of foster parent. The foster care services exercise a lot of autonomy in organizing the trainings (frequency, group trainings versus individual supervision or preparation).

In most of the foster family services candidates are brought together in groups. Together with a social worker they discuss a variety of topics (e.g. emotional development of children in care, working with natural parents). Foster parents explore their experiences and assess their readiness and commitment to foster parenting. As a consequence, the process of selecting foster parents is very open, engaging the candidates themselves in the process.

Length of stay in a foster family?

As mentioned before, the placement in a foster family is according to the regulations temporary. Family reunification is one of the primary aims of foster care.

The average length of stay of almost 50% of the children in foster care, within the system of special youth care, is less than one year. However, the length of stay of 30% of the placements is 3 years or more.

In shelter care the length of stays are short. It varies from some days to 3 months.

How do we provide control over the process of foster care?

In Flanders, foster agencies exercise a lot of autonomy over the process of foster care. Each service has his own quality policy. It is necessary to define the objectives, the group for whom they are intended and the methods used to achieve them. In addition, foster care services dispose of some general standards, e.g. tasks, the number of children placed in each foster household, the supervision and ending of placements, care plans, records.

Inspection Teams of the Flemish Community will check the quality of the service by comparing the performances with the concept (e.g. quality handbook, general standards). The process of foster care within the foster family will be evaluated by the foster care agency. One of their tasks is to monitor the placement situation to see that proper care is given (cf. infra).

How are foster families financed?

Foster families receive a daily allowance. Daily allowances are linked to the age of foster children. They are paid to cover current expenses for maintenance, schooling, holidays, visits to parents etc.

If placement was by private arrangement and did not result from special youth assistance an allowance is provided by Child and Family. The allowance paid to foster families by Child and Family is identical to that associated with special youth assistance.

In addition to the daily allowances which they pay to foster parents, the foster services can receive funds to cover their operational costs, including staff costs.

What are the main problems in the functioning of foster families' services? How to deal with these problems?

• Foster services have ongoing difficulties in recruiting and retaining an adequate number and range of foster families. Until now, the recruitment of appropriate foster parents is hampered by the fact that this task is handled by too many services and that there is a little knowledge about the characteristics of potential foster families. Nowadays the Federation for Foster Care tries to coordinate the actions in that respect. The Federation for Foster Care is a non-governmental umbrella organization, of which the services form a part. This association is also carrying out research on the characteristics of foster parents, with the aim of developing new strategies for recruitment.
• There is a widespread agreement that it is necessary provide help to the family of the child while the child is in foster care. However, not all our foster care services have the tradition of "family-oriented action". Sometimes the worker case loads seems to be too high to permit the development of a working relationship between worker and parent.
• Kinship foster care has received increasing attention in recent years. There is a need of more specific training programs for care givers on kinship care.
• A major barrier to more effective foster care is the organization of foster care within different sectors (e.g. special youth care, child and family, the help for disabled persons) and the lack of coherence (e.g. different regulations, difference in allowances for services and foster families). This is confusing for clients. Above that there is a need of interagency partnerships on the client level. For example, until now it is not possible for a client to combine different forms of care (e.g. foster care and residential care). Regulations must become more flexible with the aim of meeting the needs of individual children and families.

Research in assessment of functioning of foster families' service?

In recent years, most research on the functioning of foster services has been carried out or is stimulated by the Federation of Foster Care. Emphasis is increasingly placed on the collection of systematic data about the children in care and their families and on the family foster care process. As mentioned before, the Federation for Foster Care is carrying out a research on the characteristics of foster parents, with the aim of developing new strategies for recruitment.

However, as yet no large scale, systematic, scientific research has been undertaken in this field in Flanders. There is also a striking lack of long-term outcome studies on foster care.