What are the kinds of foster families?
There are several types of foster care that may be implemented. Candidates for each type go through a training during which they learn laws and regulations concerning them in detail. Let us look at each of them now
Foster families may be split into related, non-professional, professional (including family emergencies, specialized families and family orphanages)
May be formed by child's ascendants (grandparents; great grandparents or siblings). More distant relation (e.g. aunt, uncle) is counted as a non-professional foster family
Related foster families
Created by people unrelated to a child or related in a more distant manner (e.g. uncle, aunt, neighbour).
Unrelated foster families
Professional foster family unrelated to a child cannot be formed out of people not eligible for employment (unable to work)
Professional foster families
Family emergency
is an intervetion type of deal, child's stay with such family should be short. Family emergencies take in children based on court's ruling, as well as after police's, border patrol's or social worker's intervention
resulting from the domestic-voilence prevention act. By definition, a child is placed in this type of family until her/his situation is normalized, not longer than 4 months, though. In extraordinary cases this time period may be extended
Specialized foster families
Specialized foster families take in children that:
• possess disability status,
• are put under forster care due to an ongoing investigation involving them
• underaged mothers and their children.
It goes without saying that one must not mix disabled children with those under investigation
Family orphanage
In accordance with binding act, large foster families have been replaced by family orphanages (RDD) with no more than 8 children (this boundary may be extended if there are siblings involved or after receiving positive feedback from the coordinator and the director of the facility).