Discussing family foster care means addressing a delicate situation: a minor lives away from home for a period, while the originating family and the foster family seek to understand their respective rights and duties. A doubt may arise as to whether foster care interrupts the relationship with the parents, who can decide regarding school and health, how long the care can last, or what happens when an urgent removal is ordered.
The starting point is the minor. In this guide I want to clarify that family foster care is neither anticipated adoption nor an automatic sanction for parents. We will see together how the measure is formed, what relationships remain for the originating family, what space the foster family has in judicial proceedings, and what guarantees operate when the intervention is urgent.
Family foster care is a temporary measure, not an adoption
Foster care aims to overcome a temporary difficulty. Law No. 184 of 1983 starts from the minor's right to grow up and be educated within their own family. If the family temporarily fails to provide for their growth and education, foster care may be arranged with another family, a suitable single person, or, only residually, a family-type community.
The reception by foster parents offers the minor daily care, stability, and emotional relationships; however, it does not erase by itself the legal bond with the parents. Foster care does not coincide with adoption. Adoption presupposes a different procedure and different conditions, whereas foster care is designed to allow the recovery of conditions that make the minor's life in the originating family possible.
The parents' economic difficulty, considered in isolation, does not justify the child's removal: the law requires family support interventions. The foster care measure comes into play when the minor's need cannot be adequately satisfied within the family context at that time. This distinction is expressed in articles 1 and 2 of Law No. 184 of 1983 on the minor's right to a family.
Who decides foster care and what the measure must contain
The parents' consent changes the path. If the parents exercising parental responsibility, or the guardian, give their consent, foster care is arranged by the local social service and becomes enforceable by decree of the judge tutelary. If consent is lacking, the decision rests with the juvenile court. In both cases, the minor who has reached twelve years of age must be heard; they may also be heard if younger, when capable of discernment.
The measure should not be limited to indicating the family where the minor is placed. It must define the foster care project. The law requires it to indicate the reasons for foster care, the presumed duration, the powers granted to the foster parents, the modalities of the minor's relationships with parents and other relatives, as well as the social service responsible for the program and supervision.
These indications have a concrete significance. For example, the frequency and modalities of meetings with parents do not depend on the unilateral choice of the foster parents nor on an informal agreement that contradicts the measure. Even when relationships must be modified due to a supervening event, a distinction must be made between an occasional organizational difficulty and a circumstance affecting the minor's well-being or safety.
Rights of the originating family during foster care
Parents remain a legally relevant presence. By its nature, foster care does not determine the loss of parental responsibility. The originating family retains the relationship with the child within the limits established in the measure and in any judicial decisions limiting or forfeiting parental responsibility. For this reason, it is essential to read the foster care decree and any measures adopted pursuant to articles 330 or 333 of the civil code together.
When there is no ruling limiting parental responsibility within the terms provided by law, foster parents must take into account the parents' indications in the minor's education and schooling. It is not an unlimited daily management power. It serves to maintain an educational continuity compatible with the foster project, with the prescriptions of the authority that ordered it, and above all with the child's best interests.
The originating family also has an interest in knowing the concrete objective of foster care: what difficulties must be addressed, what supports are planned, and what evolution is observed. The periodic reports of the social service are not a merely bureaucratic element: they serve to report on the progress of the program, the foreseeable duration of foster care, and the conditions of the originating household. Return is neither automatic nor discretionary. It depends on the cessation of the temporary difficulty and the verification that the return corresponds to the minor's welfare.
Duties of the foster family and participation in the proceeding
Foster parents care for the minor's daily life. They must welcome the minor, provide for maintenance, education, and schooling, respecting the prescriptions of the placing authority. The law attributes to them the powers connected to parental responsibility for ordinary relations with school and health authorities. For choices exceeding this ordinary management, the reference remains the specific content of the foster care measure and any decisions of the court.
The foster family does not become holder of a right to retain the minor with them for as long as they deem appropriate. Their role is oriented towards the protection of the minor. This does not render the bond built in reception irrelevant: foster parents can provide important elements regarding daily life, the needs of the child or adolescent, and the effects that a change of placement may produce.
Summoning and briefs in the interest of the minor
Law No. 173 of 2015 provided that the foster parent or placing family be summoned, under penalty of nullity, in civil proceedings relating to parental responsibility, foster care, and adoptability concerning the fostered minor. They may also submit written briefs in the interest of the minor. Being summoned does not grant a veto power. It means that the court must be able to know the contribution of those living with the minor before making decisions affecting their life. The regulatory reference is in Law No. 173 of 2015 on emotional continuity in family foster care.
Duration of foster care, return, and continuity of relationships
The duration must be indicated from the beginning. Foster care is linked to the interventions necessary to address the originating family's difficulty and cannot exceed twenty-four months. Extension requires the intervention of the juvenile court, upon request of the public prosecutor, in the adversarial proceedings of the parties, and only if interrupting foster care would cause serious prejudice to the minor.
Foster care may cease upon expiration of the term or earlier, by order of the authority that ordered it, if the originating family's temporary difficulty has ceased or if continuing the reception harms the minor. Cessation requires a decision. It is not enough for one of the families to communicate that they want to change arrangements, because the minor's placement and family relationships must remain clearly regulated.
The return to the originating family does not necessarily impose interrupting all contact with the foster parents. The law protects, if it responds to the minor's best interest, the continuity of positive socio-affective relationships consolidated during foster care. The same criterion can operate if the minor is placed with another family or adopted. Emotional continuity is not automatic. The court considers the documented evaluations of social services and hears the minor who is twelve years old, or even younger if capable of discernment.
When removal is urgent
Urgency requires a grave and current danger. Article 403 of the civil code allows the public authority to place the minor in a safe place when morally or materially abandoned or exposed, in the family environment, to grave prejudice and danger to their psychophysical safety, and there is a need to intervene immediately. It is not the normal tool to manage family conflicts or difficulties allowing an ordinary evaluation.
Following safe placement, the public authority must immediately notify the public prosecutor and transmit within twenty-four hours the measure, useful documents, and a brief report on the reasons for the intervention. If it does not revoke the placement, the public prosecutor must request validation from the juvenile court within the subsequent seventy-two hours. The court rules on validation within forty-eight hours, appoints the special curator of the minor, and sets a hearing within fifteen days. Immediate intervention is subject to rapid judicial control.
The public prosecutor's application and the validation decree must be notified within forty-eight hours to the subjects exercising parental responsibility and to the special curator. At the hearing the judge hears the parties, can gather information, and proceeds to hear the minor. In the following fifteen days the court confirms, modifies, or revokes the validation; against this decree, the parents, the public prosecutor, and the special curator may propose a complaint within ten days of communication. If essential steps do not respect the provided terms, the urgent measure loses effectiveness. The procedure is governed by Article 403 of the civil code, as amended by Law No. 206 of 2021.
Which elements help understand the situation
The written measure is the first reference. To understand which rights are exercisable, it is necessary to identify whether foster care is consensual or judicial, who ordered it, what duration it indicates, how it regulates meetings, and what powers it attributes to foster parents. Any decisions on parental responsibility and reports documenting the evolution of the initial difficulty also count.
If the question concerns return, extension, or modification of meetings, it is not useful to abstractly contrast originating family and foster parents. The concrete effect on the minor counts. Achieved stability, the parents' support path, the quality of maintained relationships, and the possibility of preserving positive bonds without exposing the minor to new difficulties can be relevant. If you have received a judicial act or an urgent measure, you can contact me to frame the content and choices permitted by the procedure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I see my child during family foster care?
Generally yes, according to established modalities. Foster care does not automatically interrupt the relationship between parent and child. Days, frequency, location, and any supervision of meetings depend on the foster care measure and possible decisions on parental responsibility. Modification is possible when there are concrete reasons linked to the minor's well-being or safety.
Can the foster family decide independently regarding school and health?
They can manage ordinary relations. The foster parent exercises powers connected to parental responsibility in daily relations with school and health authorities. The measure can specify or limit such powers. For choices not falling within ordinary management, it is necessary to refer to the provisions of the placing authority and the position of the parents or guardian.
Can foster care last more than two years?
Yes, but not with a simple informal renewal. The duration indicated in the measure cannot exceed twenty-four months. Extension beyond that limit requires the decision of the juvenile court, upon request of the public prosecutor and in adversarial proceedings of the parties, when interrupting foster care would cause grave prejudice to the minor.
Must foster parents be heard by the judge?
They must be summoned in proceedings indicated by law. In judgments on parental responsibility, foster care, and adoptability concerning the fostered minor, the summons of the foster parent or placing family is provided under penalty of nullity. They can submit briefs in the minor's interest, but do not acquire for this a power to independently choose their placement.
Does returning to the originating family interrupt all relationships with foster parents?
No, the relationship can continue if it is positive for the minor. The law protects the continuity of socio-affective relationships consolidated during foster care when it corresponds to the minor's interest. However, no automatic right to maintain contacts exists: actual bonding, the return project, and documented evaluations of social services must be considered.