Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş reported that the number of children cared for by foster families reached 10 thousand 84.
Minister Göktaş made an assessment of the latest situation in the foster family system implemented within the scope of family-oriented service models.
According to the statement made by the Ministry, Göktaş said that the foster family service model is a family-oriented service model for the education, care and upbringing of children in family environments who cannot be cared for by their biological families for various reasons.
Minister Göktaş noted that the foster family service model contributes to the development of children in a safe and supportive family environment determined by the Ministry.
There are 8 thousand 140 foster families
Stating that the foster family service model is a source of hope for children who cannot be cared for by their biological families, Minister Göktaş said:
“Our foster families not only offer a home to our children, they also nurture their dreams and hopes. Within the scope of our foster family service model, while 2002 children were cared for by 500 families in 515, today the number of children cared for by 8 thousand 140 foster families has reached 10 thousand 84.”
Children's development is monitored
"As per our understanding of social service, we are trying to create the same conditions for all our children," said Minister Göktaş, adding, "After they are placed in foster care, we monitor our children by making on-site visits every month for the first year and every 3 months from the second year onwards. "During the monitoring, we evaluate the psychosocial development of our children and their attendance at education," he said.
“The responsibility of raising children is shared between the state and foster families.”
Stating that they do not leave the families alone financially due to this special responsibility they undertake and that they support them economically to meet the needs of the children, Minister Göktaş said, “We provide support to foster families with an average monthly amount of 8 thousand 895 liras, including insurance payments. We also provide care support to foster families who care for a child with a disability due to their disability. "Thus, the responsibility of raising children is shared between the state and foster families," he said.
“We will continue to offer a warm home to our children under protection.”
Göktaş stated that they held various workshops and meetings to solve the problems faced by foster families and children who benefit from the service and said, “We continue our work to improve the quality of our foster family service model. In this context, we held the second of our "Child Protection-Based Foster Family Workshop" in January. We started to implement the outputs we obtained from this workshop. "We are strengthening our service for all our children, especially our adolescent and foreign children who benefit from foster family services, through thematic meetings in many of our provinces." said.
Minister Göktaş stated that they recently organized a "Temporary Foster Family Workshop" and said, "With the temporary foster family model becoming operational, we will further expand the scope of foster family service in our country and continue to offer a warm home to our children under care and protection."
It is seen as an exemplary practice in Azerbaijan
On the other hand, Minister Göktaş stated that the foster family service model was taken as an example in Azerbaijan and that studies were carried out to adapt it to the country, and informed that experts working in the field helped to establish the foster family service in Azerbaijan.