A child raised by a foster parent (里親), not by biological parents. Often used in social welfare contexts.
See also: 里親
She grew up as a foster child.
Support is needed for children placed in foster care.
adopted animal; foster pet
Extended use: an animal (especially a pet) taken in and cared for by a foster owner, often from a shelter or rescue.
We took in a cat as a foster pet from a rescue organization.
For financial reasons, they decided to place the child in foster care.
The couple took in a boy as their foster child.
里子 is the traditional Japanese word for a child raised by non-biological parents, while フォスターチャイルド is the modern loanword used in international or formal foster-care contexts.
里子 is the foster child (or fostered pet) while 里親 is the person who takes it in as a foster parent, so the two terms describe opposite roles in the same relationship.
里子 is a child placed with another family for foster care without legal adoption, while 養子 is formally and legally adopted into the family.
counter for people
Compound of 里 (sato, 'village' or 'home away from home') and 子 (ko, 'child'). The term originally referred to a child sent to be raised in another household, often in a rural area.
The shelter puts the dogs it has rescued up for foster adoption.