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Türkiye’s Ministry of Family and Social Services announced that 1,201 children under state protection were placed in loving homes this year through its family-centered foster family and adoption programs, underscoring the government’s ongoing efforts to strengthen and protect the family unit.
Following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s declaration of 2025 as the “Year of the Family,” the ministry has been expanding initiatives aimed at supporting family cohesion and ensuring that every child grows up in a safe, nurturing environment.
Emphasizing that the family setting provides the most suitable conditions for a child’s psychosocial development, the ministry said that both foster care and adoption services continue to operate as key pillars of its social policy.
Through the foster family program, children whose biological parents are temporarily unable to care for them due to social or economic reasons are matched with suitable families following thorough assessments conducted by the ministry.
The foster care model, which was first introduced in 1961, became more structured and widespread after the launch of the “Volunteers of the Heart Project,” under the leadership of first lady Emine Erdoğan. The initiative sought to strengthen cooperation between the state and society by encouraging families to share the responsibility of raising children who lack parental care.
According to ministry data, 730 children were placed with 630 foster families in 2024, allowing them to experience the warmth of family life. Since 2002, a total of 10,732 children under state protection have been placed with 8,987 foster families across the country.
The provinces with the highest number of foster families are Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Kayseri and Adana.
In addition to the existing foster care framework, the ministry this year launched a new model called “Temporary Foster Family Service” as part of the “Strengthening the Foster Care System in Türkiye Project,” implemented in cooperation with UNICEF and funded by the European Union Delegation.
The program aims to provide children with a secure and loving environment before they are placed in institutional care. It is designed for children whose return to their biological families is not immediately possible or whose legal status remains undetermined, ensuring they can live temporarily with a foster family until their situation becomes clear.
The temporary foster care model is currently being implemented in 12 of the 30 pilot provinces selected for the project: Ankara, Izmir, Afyonkarahisar, Kahramanmaraş, Mersin, Bursa, Zonguldak, Tekirdağ, Eskişehir, Muş, Şanlıurfa and Sakarya.
Under this new model, 39 children have already been placed with temporary foster families, receiving emotional stability and continuity of care during transitional periods.
Adoption service
The ministry’s adoption service, another cornerstone of its family-oriented approach, provides permanent, safe and nurturing homes for children who cannot live with their biological parents and who meet the legal requirements for adoption.
After comprehensive evaluations and follow-up studies, if adoption is deemed suitable, judicial proceedings are initiated to legally establish the bond between the child and the adoptive family. This ensures that every child grows up in a supportive environment where they can develop with love, care and stability.
In 2024, 457 families adopted a total of 471 children through this program. Since its establishment, the adoption service has enabled 20,644 children under state protection to join permanent families.
In its statement, the Ministry of Family and Social Services reaffirmed its commitment to providing every child with the opportunity to grow up in a family environment, rather than in institutional care.
“The family remains the foundation of our society,” the ministry said. “We will continue to take all necessary steps to ensure that children under state protection are raised in safe, stable, and loving homes, in line with our family-centered social service vision.”
The ministry also emphasized that these initiatives form part of Türkiye’s broader strategy to enhance child welfare, support family resilience, and strengthen the nation’s social fabric in the coming years.
