Network for foster family care research

Foster care is currently the dominant form of out-of-home care for children and young people who, for various reasons, cannot live with their families.

With the implementation of the UNCRC as Swedish law, a new Social Services Act, and the proposals from the inquiry ‘Children and Young People in Society’s Care’ (SOU 2023:66), foster care will undergo changes and gain increased importance in the coming years. At the same time, interventions like foster care need to be based on science and proven experience.

Therefore, it is important to consolidate the research conducted on foster care in Sweden.

This is the intention of the interdisciplinary Network for Foster Care Research (NÄFF), established in 2023, which now gathers 40 researchers from across the country.There is a shortage of and competition for foster carers that can match children’s needs.

Many municipalities report that it is difficult or very difficult for them to recruit foster carers, and many children experience multiple placements while in care. At the same time, providing safe, stable, and secure care for placed children is a central value in child welfare. How these conflicting conditions can be harmonized is a significant societal challenge and research question.

How support for placed children, foster carers, and parents should be designed, what works and what does not, as well as how the children cope during placement and later in life, are also important questions for the future of child welfare.The purpose of NÄFF is to coordinate research on foster care conducted in Sweden and offer a forum for both national and international knowledge exchange, thereby creating conditions for cutting-edge research that can help identify solutions to society’s challenges in providing safe and secure foster care for children and young people.

The network is relevant for research and education, as well as social work and social policy, and will result in a book, a seminar series, and new research projects.