Research questions

It is remarkable that when it comes to matching in foster care, little is known about the factors that contribute to the match making decision. To make the matching process as transparent as possible, the contributing factors should be investigated. This leads to the following research question that this research project aims to answer:

"Which factors influence the matching decision-making process in non-kinship family foster care?”.

The question focuses specifically on the match between a foster child with a family that is unknown to the child or the birth parents, thus a non-kinship foster family. Matching is the decision-making process that comes after the decision to place a child in foster care and the recruitment and selection of the potential carers.

The central research question is divided into three smaller research questions:

• What is reported on matching in family foster care in the scientific literature?
• Which factors are affecting the matching decision-making process according to matching decision makers?
• hich relationships can be distinguished between foster child characteristics and characteristics of the foster family to which the child is matched?