The aim of this essay was to investigate how social workers, within chosen Social services districts in the northwest of Skåne, work with children placed in Foster care. Our purpose was to investigate the interaction between the child and the Foster home from the perspective of the Ecology of Human Development. Our questions were:* How do the social worker prepare the child and the Foster home before a placement?* What kind of support is offered to the Foster home with the purpose of supporting the child?* How do the social worker make the childs contact with the biological parents easier?* To what degree does the social worker work on strengthening the child's network?* Which factors do the social worker decide the allocation of support?* What do the social worker think affects the work with the Foster home from a society level?To answer our question we have interviewed nine social workers. We found that the social workers were generally good at perceiving how the micro- and meso-systems, and to a certain extent the exo-system, influenced the Foster child.

The educational underachievement of children in Foster care has been known for a long time. This study aimed to compile and analyze the current knowledge about interventions, intended to improve Foster children?s school achievements. The method used was a systematically undertaken narrative review. Despite a comprehensive searching strategy, only ten relevant studies were found, indicating that little has been done to improve the educational outcomes for children in public care.

Military dogs in Sweden spend their first 18 months after weaning with a Foster owner that has volunteered to care for its upbringing. The Foster owner is advised by a consultant and offered three opportunities to train the dog together with other Foster owners. There is a positive correlation between the number of attended training opportunities with the consultant, or other professional dog trainers, and the results of the dog in the temperament test at the end of the 18 months. The test results are in turn positively correlated with the likelihood of the dog to enter service. This thesis aims to investigate why the number of training opportunities is important for the dog?s chance to enter service by identifying Foster owner factors that influence the success of the dog and which temperament test items the factors have the strongest impact on.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to examine the different ways thatFamiljehemscentrum use to increase the number of families that show interest in takingcare of Foster children. This thesis will examine which families are targeted by Familjehemscentrums present communication, which families they should target in thefuture and also the best way to do that. In order to answer these questions a number of interviews were conducted. The first interview was a group interview with three social workers that all work at Familjehemscentrum. Three more individual interviews were conducted with representatives from Foster families to investigate how they were recruitedand what they think about being a Foster family.

The purpose of our study was to investigate whether national adoptions could be an option within the childcare system in Sweden. We wanted to create an understanding of how the professionals agree to this. We have implemented a comprehensive literature review as well as a qualitative study, taking benefit of a phenomenological method of analysis. The result of our study shows that national adoptions cannot replace Foster placements but be a good addition to Foster homes. Adoption gives the children a more secure and stable life..

This qualitative study is about motivation and experience of support among non-kinship Fosterparents in a child welfare agency (NGO), in Paraguay. The empirical data where collectedthrough out six semi-structured qualitative interviews, with totally eight Foster parentsparticipating. The aim of the study was to describe and analyze what motivates Foster parentsand how they experience support from their formal and informal network. Further theobjective was to investigate how support (may) affect motivation and enable good Foster care.Theoretical concepts such as solidarity, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations as well as socialsupport where used to analyze the data.The results show that there are many different motives and motivations (intrinsic andextrinsic) that correlate in the decision to become and continue to be a Foster parent. Amongthem social involvement, the wish to make a difference in a child?s life, have something tooffer as a family and personal satisfaction seems to be the most frequent reasons.

The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge and a picture of how Foster parents perceive their task, the role of the placed children and their biological parents.  Even how they perceived their family have been affected by the mandates removal. Consistently showed the most positive experiences with strong ties to the children placed. However, there are experiences of the need for additional guidance, support, education and contact with the client to enhance a sense of competence in the task and prevent collapse. Burnout experienced often based in the placed child's difficulties in integration.

The purpose of this essay was to examine and compare what attitudes Swedish and Belgian social workers may have towards residential care and Foster care for children and young people. To answer the purpose eight qualitative interviews with four Swedish and four Belgian social workers were made. The results were analyzed by theory of organization and professional acting space. The results of the study show that the social workers in both countries preferred Foster care, especially for small children, and that the Swedish social workers had a more negative attitude towards residential care than the Belgian social workers. Even though the Belgian social workers preferred Foster care, they found themselves forced to choose residential care due to lack of available Foster care facilities, something that did not seem to affect the Swedish social workers.

New family stuctures are constantly emerging in society. Are these changes mirrored in Foster care practice? The aim of this study was to explore to what extent homosexual families are represented when a child is given a Foster home. The nuclear family has throughout history been assured a stable position both in society as well as in the Foster care practice. During the last ten years a homosexual relationship has been legaly accepted through different amendents and it has also been more integrated and accepted in society.

The purpose of this study is to highlight the situation for youths leaving Foster care and entering adult life. The study examines the services provided by the social service in the Stockholm area when a youth is leaving Foster care, and if a recent change in the legislation has had any impact on the operating procedures of the social service. The study includes interviews with youths who recently left Foster care, as well as information collected from social service offices through a survey, supplemented by interviews with practicing social workers. All the assembled data have been analyzed using Ecological Systems theory with focus on the child perspective and the term significant others. The study shows that the respondent youth have trouble identifying the formal ending with social services, as well as the support they received or were offered.

Placing children in Foster care is today considered the best alternative for children unable to stay in their biological environment. A nuclear family consisting of a father, a mother and a child is the most common family structure within Foster care today. The purpose of this thesis is to gain insight on the family norms that control the Foster care system. It's a qualitative study based on interviews with six professional social workers within the field of Foster care. This method gave us empirical material, that was later analyzed from two main theories and one theoretical concept.

The educational underachievement of children in Foster care has been known for a long time. This study aimed to compile and analyze the current knowledge about interventions, intended to improve Foster children?s school achievements. The method used was a systematically undertaken narrative review. Despite a comprehensive searching strategy, only ten relevant studies were found, indicating that little has been done to improve the educational outcomes for children in public care.

The aim of this study is to examine social workers? experiences of how the ADHD-diagnosis affects their work with children and youths living in Foster care and how it affects the individuals and families themselves. The study is built upon five qualitative interviews and the results are analyzed through a theoretical framework that constitutes ADHD as not only the symptoms and the medical disorder but also as a social phenomenon where the disorder is socially constructed by the current society, norms, and knowledge. The study shows that the social workers? do not rely on the sole ADHD-diagnosis in the understanding and guidance of the children and their Foster parents, but rather see the individual needs of each children.

The purpose of this study was to examine how the social services are applying the sections of the law concerning custody transfer within Foster care. More specifically the aim was to find out what circumstances are underlying the social services decision to go through with a custody transfer within the Foster care, and to find out which difficulties and possibilities the law offers when it comes to this process. The study was based on interviews with six respondents, within the social services, who have great experiences working with these issues. The study concluded that there are several factors which affects the decision whether to implement at custody transfer or not, and some of these are the child?s attachment, the child?s fundamental needs and consent from the involving parties in the case.

A large number of children and teenagers are placed in Foster care for various reasons. Social services have a responsibility to follow up youths and ensure that they have the same opportunity for positive development as other young people. A qualitative study was conducted with an abductive perspective by gathering material from social workers in this particular field. The research design of this study is an interview study. The theoretical premise was Bronfenbrenners ecosystem theory and Maslows hierarchy of needs theory.