What term refers to a situation in which an individual or couple becomes temporary parents for a child unable to live with their own family?

The term that accurately describes a situation where an individual or couple temporarily takes on the role of parents for a child who cannot live with their own family is fostering. Fostering involves providing a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment for children in need, typically as a result of family difficulties, abuse, neglect, or other circumstances that make it unsafe for them to remain in their biological home.

In fostering, the relationship between the foster parents and the child is intended to be temporary, with the ultimate goal often being to reunite the child with their biological family when possible. This distinguishes fostering from adoption, where the intent is for the adoptive parents to become the legal parents of the child permanently.

Understanding fostering also highlights its differences from guardianship, which usually involves a legal arrangement where a child may live with someone other than their biological parents, but this is often a more permanent solution than fostering. Surrogacy, on the other hand, involves a woman carrying and delivering a baby for another person or couple, which is unrelated to the temporary parenting of children in need.