Foster care - Centri di Ateneo

Foster care: what is the emerging picture?
[2013]-[2016]
Research group: Raffaella Iafrate, Ivana Comelli, Ondina Greco
Abstract
Today, the practice of foster care in Italy is deficient with respect to the actual needs. At the basis of
the difficulties in promoting foster care as a concrete response to the support needs of a minor are
two main causes: the limited number of families willing to take in a foster child and the difficulties
of the persons involved to make a cultural, economic and organisational investment that will
implement the foster system itself.
In light of the above, the project launched by the Cariplo call for tender “Promuovere e sostenere
reti per l’affido familiare” (Promote and support foster home networks) has been developed,
implemented by the association ASCI (lead partner) and the Centro di Ateneo Studi e Ricerca sulla
Famiglia (University Centre for Family Studies and Research) of the Catholic University of Milan.
The project, which is based in Como, assumes the form of a research-action that has enabled us to
enter the world of foster care in order to investigate the current situations of foster caring and
synergetically promote a hospitality culture.
The in-depth investigation into the theme of perception of foster care encourages a process of
awareness of the problem in the population and also supports the adoption of best practices in the
field of foster care.
An ad hoc questionnaire was administered to all the parents and teachers of nine comprehensive
schools in the province of Como to investigate the awareness and perceptions of foster care.
Administration was accompanied by a number of meetings of presentation of and awareness raising
to the participation in the project, aimed at parents and teachers, and we tried to involve some of the
key authorities of the city (the mayor, councillors, principal…) in order to ensure maximum
participation in the research.
The first results obtained from the data analysis (still in progress) on the first questionnaires
collected (responses from four comprehensive schools are still to arrive) highlighted the need for
developing information and training campaigns on the subject of foster care. In particular, in order
to promote and sustain a culture of hospitality and the adoption of best practices with regard to
foster care, proposals for training programmes for the teachers of the nine comprehensive schools
involved have been put forward, together with the organisation of a conference for the presentation
of the results of the research to share with the operators involved in the project and with the
population of the area.