About 20% of all inhabitans in Lithuania are children. After getting back the independence Lithuania faced with many difficulties: pervasive drug addiction, alcoholism, pornography, unemployment and etc. Thats why the number of unattended children which need our care is increasing nowdays.

Children which are left by their parents are usually in care of other families and different state and private Foster Homes. The best thing is then the child is fostered in harmonious family. Only in a family the child can have the total socialization, when a person is in communication with other family member he naturally obserbs their experience, behaviour, tradicions and language.

People who have fosterchildren usually have a lot of difficulties. The main problem of the reseach work is in what ways to bring up children, how to get experience on purpose to achieve the final positive rezult. It means total socialization of the child in society.

The main subject of the reseach work ie the peculiarities and state of parenting in families which have fosterchildren. The aim of the reseach work is to show the peculiarities and state of parenting in families which voluntarily have fosterchildren.

The pieces of the work are: to review the development of fosterage and its recent state in Lithuania, to survey the situatio and peculiarities of fosterchildren bringing up in families, to see how such families are supported to know what support they need most of all, what support they lack to find out what are the relationships among family members and what is the attitude of caseworkers and pedagogues towards such families.

Qualitative and quantitative researches have been used in the research work. Four families (8 responts) which have fosterchildren have been interviewed. About 30 specialists have been questioned using questionnaires.

The survey has shown that people who have fosterchildren lack the literature on childrens bringing up has specific features: such children need much more love, atention patience and kindness.

Foster parents agreed that it should be useful to have a position as a caseworker who could work only with families, where there are fosterchildren.

After sifting through the results it became clear that specialists – caseworkers, social pedagogues – dont communicate enough with such families and visit them rarely.

Raktažodžiai: fosterage, parenting in family, children living in poor environment, permanent fosterage, impermanent fosterage