“New cloth on an old garment” - Barriers in transforming and implementing foster care services from a developmental approach in South Africa

South Africa attempted to transform its rendering of foster care services by adopting a developmental approach. This mandated the shift from social welfare services to developmental welfare services. The Children's Act 38 of 2005 was promulgated as a legislative policy on the matter, with guidelines concerning the delivery of foster care services within the developmental approach. The article identifies and describes barriers in transforming and implementing foster care services from a developmental approach in South Africa. 13 social workers employed at seven child protection organisations in South Africa participated in the study. Using a qualitative study, data was collected through focus group discussions and analysed using a thematic analysis. The findings indicate that the barriers to transforming foster care services stem from a lack of conceptual and contextual understanding of the delivery of foster care services within the developmental approach; lack of training on the Children's Act; social workers not being aware of their role in providing developmental foster care services; and lack of funding to implement and deliver foster care services from a developmental approach. The lack of transformation and barriers encountered by social workers are rooted in their lack of understanding of the developmental approach. There is a need to develop training manuals and practice guidelines for social workers, which clearly define developmental foster care services and the role of social workers in the implementation of these services, and a review of the foster care funding models. • South Africa attempted to transform its rendering of foster care services by shifting from the residual approach to a developmental approach. • Social workers encounter barriers in implementing foster care services from a developmental approach. • Most foster care social workers have no conceptual and contextual understanding of the delivery of foster care services from a developmental approach. • The shift of service delivery to a developmental approach came with unintended consequences. • Practice guidelines which clearly articulate the role of social workers in implementing developmental services should be developed.