Foster carer experience in Spain: Analysis of the vulnerabilities of a permanent model.

BACKGROUND: The voice of foster families is a valuable tool in the development and improvement of foster family services. Regularly evaluating the satisfaction of foster carers can facilitate the early identification of a range of problems that might pose a risk to the placement.

METHOD: This article reports the experience of 200 Spanish foster families (kinship and non-kinship) with foster services in relation to motivation for becoming foster carers, sources of stress and reward, satisfaction with the services and needs. Semi-structured interviews were performed. The aims of the research are principally of a descriptive character, so each group of variables was examined using frequency analysis.

RESULTS: The foster carers interviewed demonstrated a high degree of satisfaction with the foster programs, although some areas seem more problematic, such as financial compensation, information provided about the fostered child, contact with the birth family and the sensitivity of professionals.

CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals several differences with regard to international literature, that are related to particularities of the Spanish child care system. The results may be extremely useful for the implementation of policy changes which could contribute to raised levels of satisfaction for the foster carers, and increased effectiveness of the programs.