Child-Centred Foster Care

Child-Centred Foster Care

A Rights-Based Model for Practice

Author

Fostering is vitally important: the majority of looked after children are fostered, yet these children are often left out of the agenda and their voices are not heard.

This book sets out a child-centred approach to foster care which argues against thinking about children purely from a psychological perspective and instead places children's views, rights and needs at the centre of care. It sets out the theory behind working in partnership with children who are fostered, and discusses children's views about fostering systems and living with foster carers. The book then outlines how to put the theory into practice, offering models, processes and best practice examples. Practical advice is given on establishing effective communication and good working relationships between practitioners, carers and foster children.

This insightful book aims to promote better services and outcomes for fostered children, and will be essential reading for social work practitioners and students.

Published: 2011-08-15
200 pages 231 x 154mm
ISBN 9781849051743
£19.99
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Press reviews for: Child-Centred Foster Care

Children & Society

This is a book which anyone working with children and young people in foster care needs on his/her shelves.

Children & Young People Now

The author's model is aspirational, informed by children and young people's views, and give practical advice on effective communication and participation... overall the book offers a very useful review of developments in fostering practice, and utilises a wide evidence base. It is well-structured and would be of interest to a broad range of practitioners.

From the Foreword by Sue White, Professor of Social Work (Children and Families), University of Birmingham, UK

Based on thorough, sociologically informed research into children's stories about being fostered, this book challenges some of the dominant theoretical and conceptual approaches to understanding children's experiences... [It is] an excellent review of literature as well as a research-informed text in its own right..[and] offer[s] real possibilities for a way forward and for shaking up professional vocabularies about children and fostering where these have become stale.

Jacques Coulton, ANZASW Member

Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work

This book... promotes a rights-based approach to social work with children and young people in foster care... This is an interesting and somewhat challenging book. It is not difficult to read or follow and offers interesting, valuable and usable information. Social workers working with children in care or with their caregivers, as well as managers and those involved in the provision of foster care services, should read this book and keep it close by as a book to refer to... A must read for anyone interested in the provision of child-focused social work with children in care.

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