Percorsi di affido familiare e partecipazione di bambini e famiglie. I risultati di una ricerca documentaria di social work

This contribute presents a quantitative research on Italian foster care. This important care experience in child protection still represents a challenge, not only for social workers, but also for the Court that decide it, for children and their families, and for foster families. The importance of participation of foster care’s protagonists during the planning and the realization of foster care placement emerge from national and international literature. Starting from the indications emerged from the literature review, the aim of the research was to study foster care placements decided by the Juvenile Court of Milan from 2010 to 2014. The study approach is documentary analysis. The sample consisted of 308 children whom the Juvenile Court decided fostering placement and the information about foster care contained in the children’s case files is collected by a questionnaire. This study highlights the Italian social work practices in child protection and the partnership among different welfare services and the Juvenile Court. The results show the key aspects of foster care considered important by social workers and judges, but also by the protagonists of this care experience.