Social work professionals’ perspectives on using independent foster care: A contested way to compensate for organisational failure?

Research shows that outsourcing family foster care through independent foster care agencies (IFAs) has become common in several countries, such as the UK and Sweden. In Sweden, a majority of local authorities use IFAs. However, knowledge is limited regarding the experiences of professionals who use these services. Social workers, managers and administrative support staff in five public child welfare authorities were interviewed, and their attitudes towards using IFAs and the rationale for their use were thematically analysed. In short, three main themes were identified: (1) A reluctance towards IFA use due to quality, cost and contracting concerns; (2) Use of IFAs due to in-house organisational failures and the availability of IFAs; and (3) Finding competence and resources. The findings indicate that social work professionals tend to prefer in-house foster care and are reluctant to use IFAs as their use is complicated by market regulations and ‘information asymmetry’. However, as previously shown, IFAs may resolve recruitment issues and in some cases also provide the competence and resources needed in complex cases. This article discusses these findings in relation to the concepts of New Public Management and analyses the foster care market as a quasi-market.