Specialised foster families to get health insurance; new foster family type for children with behavioural or addiction problems

Amendments to Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 354, the Foster Family Regulations, take effect in Latvia on 17 October 2026. They expand support for specialised foster families, which care for children with particular needs, and create a new type of foster family for teenagers with behavioural disorders or addiction problems.

Experience requirement dropped

Under the previous rules, a family needed at least three years of experience to become a crisis foster family. To foster a child with severe functional disorders, it needed 12 months of personal or professional experience working with such children. Out-of-family care support centres objected that the requirement was unjustified and discouraged the creation of new crisis foster families. The experience requirement has therefore been removed for all specialised foster families.

Insurance and compensation

When a child has been placed with a specialised foster family, the family will be entitled to health insurance, so that it can seek medical help in good time without using personal funds. The policy will not cover the family's biological children, or children placed in foster care, under guardianship or adopted.

The rules also provide compensation for civil liability insurance, which covers cases where a family member accidentally causes damage to another person's health, property or the environment. Compensation is paid if the policy is bought for one year and a child is placed with the family on the purchase date. It is capped at 70 euros a year.

New foster family type

A child aged 11 or over may be placed with a foster family for children with behavioural disorders or addiction problems if at least one criterion is met:

• a prevention case has been opened and a behavioural social correction programme drawn up in the past two years;
• a narcologist or addiction psychiatrist has issued, in the past year, a conclusion on excessive use of addictive substances or on addiction;
• a psychiatrist or child psychiatrist has issued, in the past year, an opinion on behavioural disorders.

Before deciding, the orphan's court (bāriņtiesa) will convene an inter-institutional meeting to agree on how well the child and family suit each other, the support required and each institution's tasks. The total number of children in such a family may not exceed two, including children under guardianship, adopted children and the family's own. The orphan's court may allow more if meeting participants conclude the family can cope and it serves the children's interests.

Criminal records

Foster family status will not be granted while a person has an unexpunged conviction. After it is expunged or removed, the orphan's court will assess individually whether a threat to the child's safety remains.