Promoting foster families’ self-help groups in Lithuania
Lijana Gvaldaite
The article analyses the experience of foster families’ self-help groups in Lithuania in the context of the child care system reform currently taking place in the country. The research on foster families experience has revealed how self-help groups may become, through shared needs and communality, a place of real aid for families in taking care of children and promote personal growth of those families, positive changes in relations with family members and the social environment. The activities of self-help groups become an instrument of empowerment and represent important social capital resources developing trust and social relations.
Keywords
Foster families’ self - help groups – Social capital – Trust – Social relations
