Why do people become a foster parent? Insights from a national study

Objective: Many countries face a shortfall in the number of foster families needed to support maltreated children. This study aims to explore the drivers and barriers to becoming a foster family and to identify clusters derived from these drivers/barriers and their association with sociodemographic factors.

Method: A representative sample of 1,066 Portuguese adults (Mage = 52.76, SD = 14.92) responded to a survey assessing sociodemographic characteristics, awareness, willingness, and intention to foster and two open-ended questions related with enablers and barriers to becoming foster carers.

Results: Three profiles emerged: Material Resources (9.2% of participants), linked to material factors such as housing and economic resources; Personal Traits and Characteristics (23.0% of participants), associating the decision to become a foster family with various individual attributes and capabilities; and Child-centered Motivations (67.8% of participants), where the drivers to become a foster family focused on children and altruistic motivations, and barriers centered on personal and familial fears and threats, and child protection constraints. Differences regarding awareness, willingness and intention to foster, gender, marital status, education, family income, and having children significantly distinguished clusters.

Conclusions: The identification of these profiles, based on enablers and barriers to becoming a foster parent, can inform tailoring recruitment strategies that align with the specific needs and characteristics of prospective foster families.