Foster Children : Where They Go and How They Get On

by Sinclair, Ian; Baker, Claire; Wilson, Kate; Gibbs, Ian

• ISBN13: 9781843102786
• ISBN10: 1843102781
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-06-15
• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Pub

Summary

What happens to looked-after children in the longer term? This book analyzes the outcomes of a large-scale study of foster children in the UK. It includes individual case studies and draws extensively on the views of foster children themselves. The authors examine: why children remain fostered or move to different settings (adoption, residential care, their own families or independent living), how the children fare in these different settings and why, what the children feel about what happens to them. Other important issues covered include the support given to birth families to enable children to return home, the experience of adopters, the ways in which foster care can become more permanent and the experiences of young people in independent living. In bringing together these results the book provides a wealth of findings, many of them new and challenging. It offers positive and practical recommendations and will be an enduring resource for practitioners, academics, policy makers, trainers, managers and all those concerned with the well-being of looked-after children.

Author Biography

Ian Sinclair is a research professor and former Co-director at the Social Work Research and Development Unit (SWRDU) at The University of York.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	6	(1)
Introduction	7	(22)
Movements and Destinations: An Overview	29	(14)
Outcomes and Going Home	43	(27)
Going Home: What Makes A Difference?	70	(21)
Adoption: Who is Adopted and How Do They Do?	91	(16)
Adoption: What Makes A Difference?	107	(20)
Foster Care: Can It Offer `Permanence'?	127	(22)
Foster Care: Does It Feel Like A Family?	149	(22)
Leaving Foster Care	171	(16)
Living Independently: What Makes A Difference?	187	(30)
Tara's Story: A Case Study	217	(9)
Alistair's Story: A Case Study	226	(8)
A Common Explanation?	234	(16)
Conclusion	250	(19)
Appendix 1: Sampling Bias In Sweeps 1 and 2	269	(4)
Appendix 2: Some Key Variables	273	(5)
References	278	(6)
Subject Index	284	(1)
Author Index	285