”I shall always open up my home” : Women as foster mothers

This study examines the intrinsic motives of women wanting to establish foster homes. With help from sociological theories, established research and new material the origin of the motives is analyzed. The purpose of the study is to make a contribution to research on foster homes in general and in particular to research of the motives of women establishing foster homes. The question of issue of the study is to analyze and describe the background to women's intrinsic motives for wanting to establish foster homes. Furthermore, we want to investigate and try to identify which women who choose to become foster parents and why. Using a qualitative method consisting of interviews, with forum thread analysis as a complement, we try to find answers to the question of issue. The interviewees consisted of women living throughout Sweden. Results find that the intrinsic motives for wanting to become a foster parent is established already in the women's childhoods and that habits and acts of importance continues to shape them later throughout life. Women's career choices and living situation also turns out to be something that affects the women towards establishing foster homes. Furthermore, they all have caring professions as something in common. The base of foster homes in general stands on traditional gender role patterns where men has the main responsibility as the professional and the women dominate within the boundaries of the home. In the study, we conclude that strong and driven women are crucial for foster homes to be established. The conclusion of the study is demonstrated in something we developed and named “the foster home model”