Abstract
Foster care is one of the private law institutes of substitue family care. Its purpose is to ensure the performance of the personal care of a child by a person other than the parents (or. guardian) if personal care can not be, either for objective or subjective reasons, exercised by parents (or. guardian).
Foster care is on one side subsidiary in relation to parental care (that is privileged), on the other hand it must be given priority to it over non-family care, ie. care provided in institutions, where the child is not entrusted to the care of a specific person. Foster care takes precedence over institutional care.