Adoption, half adoption, open adoption, pre-adoption foster care, foster parents with parental authority, regular foster care…..confusing!  They say: foster care is helping a child, adoption is having a child. Or: all foster children have behavioral problems and family contacts are a problematic; adoption is about normal children without these complications. That’s why families that adopt have to do it al alone, while foster parents are helped and supervised by a social worker.Couples who want to adopt have to pay a lot of money, foster parents receive and allowance, sometimes also salary. Legislation around foster care and adoption is completely different.

In my country only a limited number of children can be adopted (50 per year) . Adoption from abroad was popular but after scandals and disappointments the number is lower every year (1980: 1599, 2015: 304).

Now for couples that want to adopt no children are availble, while the foster care agencies don’t have enough foster families. Is there an opportunity to come closer together?