Last week while working in a residential home for children under 11, I read a review from the 90s relating to a foster carer who eventually killed a baby she fostered this followed an emence cronologie of accidents. This gave a detailed account of the children fostered and accidents they had encounted for well over a 10 year period. The picture painted, obviously based on hindsight ( which unfortunately as field workers we/they were are ablivious to at the time) was excessivly siniciter.
This highlighted for me the difficulties in ensuring foster carers are treated with the respect the majority of foster carers deserve, but in an areena of child protection where suspission on behalf of the social worker is imperitive.
I hope that upon more reflection this will improve my practice. But in the same way I am aware just how much, we as workers rely on the work of others. ie, foster carer assessments, and statutory support, inital and cores, done by other workers and just handed over. This was the most pertenent raised issue of the review for me, other than age old information sharing etc. the strength over time new workers gave to the assessment and oppinion of others. This though has to be worked with and is sysyematic, lets just hope on a personal practice level such reviews can make us aware of possibilities rather than defensive or overly suspisious.