Eficacitatea plasamentului familial la asistenți maternali profesioniști

Abstract

Professional foster care represents a pretty new type of placement in Romania, applied in practice since the middle of 1997. Very few surveys were done to evaluate the effectiveness of this type of care for children. The article presents the results of a longitudinal study on an exit cohort of children from Cluj county, who was placed with professional foster carers before they achieved the final permanent placement. The longitudinal research track children case histories from their first placement through all subsequent placements as they exit the child welfare system. Simple frequency distributions of placement patterns can effectively portray both a quantitative and qualitative dimension of children's pathways through out-of-home care.