THE EXPERIENCE OF FAMILY FOSTER-CARE IN MALAWI - A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION

This preliminary investigation into family foster care in Malawi set o ut to provide information on the Malawi government family foster care structure primarily through the qualitative experience of foster careg ivers. A semistructured interview schedule was used to interview 24 fo ster parents, who were selected from a government family foster care r egister, in two regions of Malawi. The study revealed that cultural fa ctors influenced various aspects of family foster care, ranging from t he caregivers' decision to foster children to the caregivers' determin ation not to disclose to the children that they were fostered. Social and economic factors also played a role, particularly with regard to s ome shortcomings in service delivery.