The Dutch Foundation Op Kleine Schaal - on small scale - has facilitated the implementation of the PRIDE Model of Practice in many European countries. It all started in 1989 with a transfer to the Netherlands and later to Belgium of the Model Approach of Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP) a foster care training program.

The conferences of the International Foster Care Organization (IFCO) provided opportunities to share information internationally and network. The 1991 IFCO-conference in Jonkoping was key to the first implementation of the PRIDE Model of Practice in Sweden. In the years after all Scandinavian countries followed. 

The end of the communist era in the nineties of the previous age and the opening of the borders in the, at that time so-called Central Eastern European Countries, placed quite a focus on social developments in Europe. The numbers of children living in children’s institutions were alarming and family foster care was seen as a possible alternative. In 1997, Hungary was the first CEEC country to transfer and implement the PRIDE Model of Practice.

The successful implementation in Foster Care in Hungary and the enthusiasm for the possibilities of Family Foster Care also led to the organization of the first Eastern European IFCO conference in 1998 in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary. This IFCO conference was jointly organized by the Family, Child and Youth Association in Budapest, Perhehoitoliitto in Finland and Op Kleine Schaal in The Netherlands. Almost 1,000 participants, many from this developing region, participated in this IFCO conference.

There is a strong correlation between (the lack of) family support and the institutionalization of children. In time, the European Community became more focused on developing coherent family policies and promoting of de-institutionalization of child and family care services in Europe. This resulted in an urge for improvement and further development Foster Care Systems.

After Hungary the PRIDE Model of Practice was also implemented in Estonia, Poland, Slovak Republic, Russian Federation, Serbia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Macedonia. 

For more info about IFCO: International Foster Care Organization