Portugal Places 27 Percent More Children With Foster Families, but Four in Five of the 6,120 in Care Live in Residential Homes

Portugal had 6,120 children and young people in care on 1 November 2025, according to the CASA 2025 report (the annual survey of children in care) that the Instituto da Segurança Social (Social Security Institute, ISS) published this week. That is 229 fewer than a year earlier, a fall of 3.6 percent. (The report's summary speaks of a drop of "about 11 percent", but its own totals for the two years give 3.6 percent.)

The count covers everyone up to the age of 24 placed away from home under a protection measure: foster families, residential homes, independent-living flats and specialist health, education or social-care units.

Foster care grows, residential homes still dominate

Foster families looked after 459 children, up 98, or 27 percent, in a year. That is 7.5 percent of all placements, against 5.6 percent in 2024 and 4.1 percent in 2023. The number of approved foster families rose by 100 to 420.

Even so, 4,964 children (81.1 percent) lived in casas de acolhimento (residential care homes). Another 358 were in apartamentos de autonomização (supervised flats where older teenagers and young adults learn to live alone), up 15.5 percent, and 339 were in other residential settings. Among children under six, 26.4 percent were with foster families, while 69.5 percent were in residential homes.

The report itself says the progress is "manifestly insufficient" against the targets in Portugal's 2022 to 2030 action plan for the European Child Guarantee.

Who is in care, and why

• Age: 46.9 percent were aged 12 to 17, and 19.9 percent were 18 or older, staying on after their 18th birthday.
• Nationality: 1,002 (16.3 percent) were foreign nationals from more than 50 countries, led by Brazil (187), Guinea-Bissau (111) and Angola (95). Some 225 were unaccompanied foreign minors, 22 percent fewer than in 2024.
• Reasons: neglect accounted for 66.9 percent of the risk situations recorded, followed by abandonment (6.2 percent) and psychological (4.9 percent) and physical (4 percent) abuse. Most children had more than one.
• Region: Lisbon district had 1,236 children in care, Porto 912, Braga 443 and Setúbal 423; Portalegre had the fewest, 52.

Leaving care

During the year 2,038 children entered care and 2,233 placements ended. The report's summary counts 1,801 children who left the care system: 67.4 percent returned to their families, 7.7 percent moved to an adoptive family before adoption, and 7.1 percent began living independently in a rented room or flat. Stays averaged about three years; among placements that ended, 15 percent had lasted under a year and 16 percent six years or more.

The law, and what comes next

Under the Lei de Proteção de Crianças e Jovens em Perigo (Law on the Protection of Children and Young People in Danger, Lei n.º 147/99), article 46 requires foster care to be chosen over residential care except where a child's situation demands otherwise or no family is available, and any residential placement must be justified. Foster care itself is run under Decreto-Lei n.º 139/2019. Most protection cases never reach a placement: 45,903 children, 88 percent of all measures, were supported at home or with relatives.

The report sets four priorities: stronger support for families, more foster carers, more independent-living options for older teenagers, and better residential homes. It also flags long stays, 1,920 transfers between homes and 1,166 children placed outside their home district. And it calls for joint health and social care units: 372 children in care had a diagnosed mental health disorder, up 5.4 percent, a gap the Ombudsman has also pressed the authorities to close.

Our guide to becoming a foster family in Portugal explains who can apply and how approval works.