Author: Matt Forde
Author title: Partnerships and Development Director at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) Scotland
Description: Until the 1980s, significant numbers of children were accommodated in the UK in residential nurseries. In common with trends internationally, a huge shift away from institutional care has taken place. The foster care system began to expand significantly as changes in legislation and practice and social factors such as the impact of substance misuses, began to drive an increase in the number of babies and infants being removed from their birth families and placed in foster care. Yet while there are well- established orthodoxies around the recruitment of foster carers, the placement of children, and the support provided to the children, their carers and the placement overall, research into what makes for successful foster care is lacking.

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