Foster Children: Where They Go and How They Get On

 Foster Children: Where They Go and How They Get On
 Ian Sinclair, Claire Baker, Kate Wilson & Ian Gibbs,
 Jessica Kingsley Publishers
 ISBN 1843102781, £19.95

 STAR RATING: 5/5

The long journey of foster children through care to independence and their reactions and feelings during their young lives is the subject of this book, writes Hamido Megahead.

It addresses the manner in which foster children can achieve their potential in terms of their social and emotional development. But it also goes further and focuses on how they fare in a particular type of placement – residential care, foster care, reunification, adoption or care leaving – including their accompanying emotional and moral sensitivity.

For me, it shows how foster care can be a mechanism for change rather than residential care and how to adapt leaving care to be more helpful for independent living instead of being the first preliminary step to prison.

Practitioners, researchers and policymakers should own a copy of Foster Children and everyone who works in child care should read the book as it represents a major contribution in the field.

Hamido Megahead is a researcher in institute of child care research, Queen’s University, Belfast