FOSTER PARENT’S MOTIVATIONS REGARDING FOSTER CARE: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY FROM SOUTH INDIA

Institutionalized children’s foster care is getting more momentum in India recently. Perceptions and motivations regarding foster care among foster parents are an area unexplored and the current study is indeed an attempt to look into it. Initial assessment of the sample population was done at home and their socio-demographic data was collected. After taking informed consent, the participants were given an open ended question, what motivated you to apply for foster care? to answer in detail in writing. Qualitative content analysis, a process designed to condense raw data into categories or themes based on valid inference and interpretation was used to analyse the data. The sample population consisted of 36 foster parents. The mean age of husband was 51.66 ± 6.58, mean age of wife was 44.83 ± 5.64 and average number of children in the family was 1.58 ± 1.02. Analysis of sociodemographic variables showed that out of 36 foster parents, 21 was belonging to Hindu religion, 8 belonging to Islamic religion and 7 belonging to Christian religion. Most of them belongs to upper middle class and resides in semi urban regions of Kozhikode district. The major motivational themes came out in the qualitative interview were altruism, deprivation, social response, sympathy, empathy, religious beliefs, prestige of the family and a way of meeting parental needs. The present study explored motivations regarding foster care among foster parents. The study found altruism as the most important factor motivating foster care among studied population. Further researches are needed to understand how different motivations affect the quality and continuity of foster care in the Indian context, so that an ideal foster assessment can be made by the concerned authority before entrusting the care of a child to the foster parent.