What does fostering mean?
Fostering means providing care, support, and encouragement so that a child, person, relationship, idea, or organization can develop securely. In its most established social sense, it refers to the care of children by adults who are not their birth parents, usually through a temporary or formally arranged placement. The practice is distinct from adoption, although both involve a child being brought up by adults who are not the birth parents. The word is also widely used in a broader figurative sense: institutions foster innovation, governments foster economic growth, and teachers foster positive relationships. As a noun, fostering can denote the overall process or activity, while as a verb it describes the care and encouragement being provided. Its positive connotation comes from the idea of nurture: creating the conditions in which someone or something can flourish. The word is common in both formal and everyday English, although official references to children in care may use more specific legal or social-care terminology.
To provide care, support, or encouragement to a child, person, relationship, idea, or enterprise.
"The charity is fostering independence among young adults leaving care."
The verb can be used literally for child-rearing or figuratively for anything deliberately encouraged to develop.
The act or process of caring for and encouraging a child, person, relationship, idea, or undertaking.
"The program focuses on the emotional aspects of fostering and keeps siblings together where possible."
In social-care contexts, this is generally an uncountable noun referring to the practice as a whole.
Rare countable plural; the noun is ordinarily used in the uncountable sense.
"The records document three fosterings involving the same child, each with a different household."
Fostering is one of English’s oldest labels for care: its roots reach back to Old English child-rearing.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does fostering come from?
The modern verb descends from Middle English fosteren and Old English fōsterian, meaning “to bring up” or “nurture,” while the related Old English noun fōster referred to a child or to child-rearing. These English forms belong to the Germanic family and have cognates such as Old Norse fostra, “to foster” or “bring up.” The later gerund form fostering developed as the modern English expression for the ongoing act or process of providing that care and encouragement.
Related word forms
How fostering is actually used
In social-care contexts, fostering usually refers to temporary care arranged for a child and should not be confused with adoption. Outside that context, the word is common in formal and professional writing for encouraging relationships, innovation, cooperation, or community development.
Easily confused with fostering
Fostering means providing care or encouragement, whereas frosting is a decorative or flavored coating.