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FDI Round Table on Foster Care Reform in Poland

19 listopada 2025

Nearly 2,000 children are still stuck in the “nightmare queue” despite court orders requiring that they be kept safe. With foster care reform stalled in the legislative process, the Foundation for Good Initiatives (FDI) calls on local governments to act immediately—under crisis-management procedures.

An overburdened system—reform urgently needed

In Poland today, one in every hundred children is being raised outside the family home—over 77,000 young citizens in total. The system is so overburdened that nearly 2,000 children who, under court orders, should already be secured in foster care are still waiting for a safe place to live. Escaping this dramatic situation requires cooperation between central government, local authorities, and civil society organisations, as well as streamlined collaboration among the courts, social welfare centres, foster care organisers, and other institutions involved in foster care. We need a swift, intelligent, and coordinated reform that addresses real problems—and practical tools made available to foster care organisers.

FDI Round Table

FDI convened a Round Table to create a space for dialogue among representatives of public administration, local government, NGOs, and practitioners working in foster care. This was not a conference; it was hands-on workshop work carried out in four thematic teams spanning the full institutional spectrum: from the municipal level, through county, family courts, and up to the regional level. The outcome? Concrete, ready-to-implement proposals for every local government unit in Poland—well before any formal reform comes into force. Key recommendations include:

  • Municipal level: a mandatory family support worker (asystent rodziny); 24/7 access to psychological support; a foster care coordinator; and an individual plan for every child from the first point of contact.

  • County level: professionalised recruitment of foster families; greater support for kinship carers; pools of relief/support carers; and clear operating standards for county family support centres (PCPRs).

  • Courts: streamlined procedures; a rapid, interdisciplinary assessment within 30 days; a single, continuous judge of record; and legal authority for foster carers in matters of health and education.

  • Regional level (voivodeship): creation of coordination units for foster care; a system for supervising standards; and an Intervention Fund for urgent cases.

The work has also produced an outline of a practical handbook for local governments—a toolkit to help drive bottom-up reform even before the statute is amended.

Click the button to download the full FDI Round Table report.

Get the report (in polish)

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