Hosting Families of Children Living in Residential Care

ABSTRACT Hosting families host children, who are deprived of contact with their own families. They aim to create a positive family model and supportive relationships for these children. This qualitative study was based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 couples in 20 hosting families (20 interviews, 40 interviewees). The present article describes and analyzes the dialectics in the families’ experience: on one pole is the moral obligation to accept the child with a life history and ongoing difficulties; on the other pole is the stress derived from the child’s emotional distress, risk behavior, and crisis situations. The hosting families experience distress and, sometimes, helplessness. At the same time, their commitment to the choice to become a hosting family is reinforced. The article emphasizes hosting families’ need for support and counseling to help strengthen their coping capacities.