Good practices for frail families care and intervention: a case study on an innovative foster care service

Nowadays, the area of family frailty is rapidly expanding, specifically for families with underage children. A broad examination of the international literature shows that the response to the needs of the frail families is more effective when families themselves play an active role in the intervention. However, such kind of services are still few. Accordingly, it is very important to identify and analyse innovative solutions, which adopt a relational and family perspective. The study outlined here was carried out in Piedmont, a region of Northern Italy: it is a recognition of good practices among interventions on vulnerable families, aimed at improving parenting skills in order to prevent their children’s removal, or promote the reintegration of out-of-home minors into their own families. Among the practises considered, a particular one was chosen for a case study of a preventive intervention on families at risk. The intervention, named “Dare una famiglia a una famiglia” (Give a Family to a Family) is a new kind of foster care in which one family gives its support to another, more vulnerable, family. The service has attracted particular interest as an innovative experience, not yet used or indeed known outside Italy. This case study was analysed by applying the “relational quality” model already tested in a number of studies on care services.