ACOFAMT - Temporary and/or Emergency Foster Care Service in Non-Kinship Familiesfor Minors under Guardianship (Region of Murcia)

The Temporary and/or Emergency Foster Care Service in Non-Kinship Families for Minors under Guardianship seeks to provide an alternative to the institutionalisation of minors who are under the guardianship of the Government of Murcia and have therefore been removed from their family of origin. Through the programme, children and adolescents can find a warm, close and prepared family that takes them in and tries to meet all their basic needs in an individualised environment suited to their circumstances, for as long as it takes to determine the most suitable alternative for them. This demand responds to and is in line with the European trend in child protection, which regards a normalised family setting as the greatest facilitator of the comprehensive development of every minor. 

The service is aimed at children and adolescents who are subject to protection measures by the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia or another Public Protection Body, in temporary foster care with a non-kinship family and residing in the Autonomous Community of Murcia, as well as others who may be eligible for temporary foster care with a non-kinship family and are in a situation of abandonment. 

Likewise, the users of the Service are the people who offer to foster minors temporarily, those who have custody of the minor(s) as their foster carers, as well as the parents and those members of the family of origin determined according to the needs of the minor, their educational plan and their individual intervention project. 

Thus, the Service is aimed at children and adolescents under guardianship aged between 0 and 17. Siblings may remain together if this is appropriate for them and in line with their individual educational project.  

The Service can also care for minors with mild disabilities (physical and/or intellectual) and/or behavioural problems that can be managed within the foster family. 

The minors who meet these conditions (around 30 cases are handled each month) are referred to the Service by the Technical Teams of the centres in coordination with the Responsible Technical Unit, which reports to the Directorate-General for Families and Child Protection of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia. 

The characteristics that define this Service are listed below: 

1. To facilitate, at all times, the minor’s return to their family of origin, working conscientiously and actively involving the family of origin in its improvement and development, providing it with opportunities for change and promoting the removal of the indicators that led to the minor being taken into guardianship. If such parental recovery is not possible, the technical team, in continuous coordination with the Public Body, facilitates and promotes other alternatives for the minor. 
2. The foster family selected to care for the minor is matched directly according to the specific profile, upholding the maxim “we do not look for a child for a family, but for a family for a child”. 
3. Custody of the minor is delegated to the family selected by the Service, while guardianship remains with the Public Body responsible for child protection. 
4. Foster families receive financial remuneration, which increases according to the number of children and adolescents fostered (sibling groups) and their special circumstances (disability).  
5. A specific feature of the Service is that foster care does not exceed 2 years (24 months), unless the best interests of the minor advise extending the measure because of a foreseeable and imminent family reunification or the adoption of another permanent protection measure. During this period, the technical team, in coordination with the Responsible Technical Unit, must have established a clear and satisfactory alternative for the minor (return, referral to delegated custody for the purpose of adoption, or other alternatives). 
6. The selected families become an integral part of the Service, taking part in any activity proposed to them. 
7. Ongoing training sessions are held, facilitating continuous feedback from the families and regular learning about all areas of the minor’s development, thus promoting their semi-professionalprofile and moving towards the professionalisation of the foster family role. 
8. At the same time, the service’s technical team must ensure that there is an ongoing process of coordination with other resources related to the minor’s life, initially taking into account the guidelines and recommendations established by the Directorate-General for Families and Child Protection.