Matching the general or the specific child with a foster home?

• Published in: The British journal of social work 2025-01
• Main Authors: Järkestig Berggren, Ulrika, Engwall, Kristina, Bask, Miia, Bergman, Ann-Sofie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0045-3102; 1468-263X; 1468-263X
• DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcae203

Matching a child with a foster home is a professional practice with considerable room for discretion since there are no specific guidelines in Sweden. The aim is to describe what knowledge do social workers’ assessments build upon in the matching process. The material consists of matching investigation files of 116 children from 6 municipalities in Sweden. A data form was used to assemble excerpts of descriptions of the child’s needs and how the family would be expected to meet the child’s needs. The findings show that social workers describe the child’s basic needs in line with the theory of Maslow and the ability of foster parents to form attachment and take a child perspective. Specific needs of the child are motioned regarding medical diagnoses and challenging behaviour of the child. This focus on basic needs is due to several circumstances, a shortage of available foster homes and that the matching social worker seldom meets the child, hence the child’s interests and wishes are seldom known. Implications for practice concern the right for children to be involved in the decision-making process and for the social worker to take in to account the specific needs of the child.