Tyrol urgently seeks foster parents for children and teenagers

Tyrol is urgently seeking foster parents, ORF reported. The state’s Child and Youth Welfare Service will hold an online information session on 15 October to explain the requirements, training and support available to prospective foster families.

The session, which starts at 5 p.m., is open to families, couples and individuals considering taking in a foster child. To register, email [email protected]. Organisers will send participants a link after they sign up.

More children and teenagers in Tyrol are unable to live permanently with their biological parents. Foster families can offer them security and a home as an alternative to care in a socio-educational institution. In 2025, 276 children and teenagers lived with foster parents in Tyrol.

Foster placements are usually intended to be long-term, and the state says children should be able to rely on a lasting, stable relationship. Care generally ends when a child turns 18, although foster children often remain part of the family for life. Unlike adopted children, they legally remain the children of their biological parents. The Child and Youth Welfare Service supports foster parents before, during and after a child joins their family.

Emergency foster families, by contrast, temporarily take in babies and young children during crises. They are based at the state children’s home in Axams. The state said 14 children were currently being cared for by 14 emergency foster families in Tyrol.