engleski

Foster care as the form of alternative care for children

Family is considered to be the natural environment for the child's development and well-being. When the family does not fulfil its essential role in caring for the child who depends on it, the state must activate its social support mechanisms and provide alternative care for such a child. The importance of family and community-based forms of alternative care, as opposed to institutionalisation, is supported by all levels of governing. As one of the forms of alternative care for providing the child with domestic environment, foster care is strongly advocated by the United Nations, Council of Europe and European Union. Being bound by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as other relevant international agreements, and being an EU Member State, Croatia is making efforts to improve the foster care for children as part of the wider social welfare system reform. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relevant international standards and the domestic approach to foster care in order to find out whether the practice of foster care in Croatia corresponds to legal requirements and to identify the possibilities for improvements with the purpose of protecting the foster children better.

child ; family ; foster care ; social support

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