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Non-Insurance Social Benefits as a Form of Support for Foster Families
MAROUSKOVÁ, Martina
Foster care is personal care for a child provided by a third person; it is one of the types of substitute family care that the Czech government funds, manages, brokers and monitors. The purpose of foster care is to provide a child with care in a natural family environment with nurturing relationships. Foster care provides material support for the child and reimbursement for those providing care for the child. The government accepted a legislative reform of foster care, effective January 1, 2013. Major changes included new provisions about the management of foster care services, and adjustment of the levels of government benefits for foster parents. The theoretical section includes a review of foster care characteristics presented in relevant legislation. The main purpose of this bachelor's thesis was to capture perspectives of foster parents on the government subsidies in the form of non-insurance social benefit. In addition, it aspired to clarify foster parents' opinions on the legislative changes of foster benefits. The empirical work was accomplished through a qualitative research strategy. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed through an open coding method. The sample of respondents was selected through purposive sampling from a foster parent register in the regional offices of the Úřad práce ČR in České Budějovice, including offices in Hluboká nad Vltavou and Zliv. The research findings showed that areas of family budgets that were affected by foster care are almost identical with areas, for which non-insurance social benefit are provided. These include expenditures for everyday needs of the foster child, but also increased housing and transportation costs that are part of the provision of foster care. Most of the respondents were satisfied with the level of foster care benefits. The responses, however, differed between the groups of temporary and long-term foster parents. These findings would warrant more attention to the legislative treatment of parental benefits for temporary foster parents and for those who receive a child from temporary foster care. Most of the respondents saw the changes in the level of foster benefits as good. The only exceptions are the perspectives on the level of compensation for caregiver and registered person respondents from both groups provided arguments for and against the set levels of compensation. It would be beneficial to treat foster care compensation as income from dependent employment. Currently, it is not clear for what purposes income from dependent employment is accepted. The findings could highlight additional needs to legislatively clarify and regulate practical issues that appeared after the implementation of the foster care reform.
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