Support for foster parents by youth welfare offices in Germany: a nationwide survey

• In Germany, almost all youth welfare offices offer counselling prior to placements. • In rural areas, coaching and supervision for foster carers is less available. • There is a need for foster carer self-help groups, parenting trainings, and respite care. • Nearly 60% of youth welfare offices have outsourced some of their responsibilities. • 90% of youth welfare offices reported current or imminent shortage of foster carers. Caring for foster children is a challenging task that requires a broad scope of competencies, including parenting skills, navigation of the health, educational and legal system, to name but a few. In order to master this task, foster carers are in need of external support, which in most countries is mainly provided by youth welfare offices. For Germany, informative data on services for foster parents offered by youth welfare offices is lacking. This nationwide survey aimed to record (1) services offered to foster parents by youth welfare offices prior to and during placements, (2) predictors of service availability, (3) perceived needs for services beyond the current portfolio, and (4) current and future supply of foster parents. A self-designed questionnaire was mailed to all 577 youth welfare offices in Germany. A total of 215 responses (37.3%) were received. Prior to placements, counselling (94%), multi-session (77.2%) or single-session training events (63.7%), and informal exchange with other foster families (77.2%) were the services most frequently offered. During foster child placements, coaching and supervision were offered most frequently (74.2%). Regarding influencing factors, lower staff numbers were associated with reduced pre-placement counselling options, and rural office locations were associate with less counselling, coaching, family therapy and supervision offers. Suggestions for services beyond the current portfolio included self-help groups for foster carers, distinct parent trainings, support for specific audiences (e.g. kinship carers, families of origin), and respite care. Importantly, 90% of youth welfare offices reported current or imminent shortage of foster carers. This study provides real-world insight into the spectrum of services available for foster carers in a large Western youth welfare system. Our results show that prior to placements, almost all youth welfares offices offer counselling for prospective foster carers, while during placements only about three quarters of offices provide coaching and supervision for foster carers. Given the substantial shortage of prospective foster carers in Germany, the portfolio of services on offer could be optimised, e.g. through online services for carers in rural areas, evidence-based parent training programs, and support options for specific audiences.