foster family
14
3.5
- noun
- /ˈfɔstər ˈfæmɪli/
:
familia de acogida
- So I grew up in Cairns with my foster family.
- lived with a foster family
- children in foster families
- foster family homes
Examples
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Jeremiah's detailed references to his foster family's realness impress the seeming permanence of that home upon the reader.
Academic text (2014) -
I was raised by a foster family.
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And I got to meet the foster family and they were such an incredible couple.
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I received a call from your foster family.
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My mother placed me with three different foster families during the next five years of my life.
Fiction book (1990) -
I asked if all my brothers and sisters were going to nice foster families too, and she said yes.
Fiction book (2002) -
Often they depend on foster families who do a brilliant job.
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Eventually, we got lucky and we were placed with a really nice foster family, and that was the first time I ever had my own bed.
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Wally grew up in foster care, and his foster family attended a Baptist church.
Academic text (2007) -
The state now has about 4,200 children in foster familys in 2,800 homes.
How Permanent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is transparently built from 'foster' (to care for/raise a child who is not biologically yours) + 'family' (a household/relatives), so a learner who knows both words can readily infer it means a family that provides care to a non-biological child. This compositional pattern is common and has clear parallels in many languages, making it immediately comprehensible at B1 level.
Etymology
The word foster family comes from the word foster, which meant 'to care for or raise' a child who is not your own, and family meaning the people who live together. So a foster family is a family that looks after a child who is not their own, often for a time.