Foster Care in Europe: What Do We Know About Outcomes and Evidence?

By: C. Canali, T. Vecchiato, eds.

ABSTRACT: The aim of this book is to present the different forms of “foster care”. It is necessary to prepare a future that is able to provide better, more appropriate, more effective solutions for deprived children. The authors consider the outcomes of the solutions which are adopted, the conditions for effectiveness, and the measures really benefitting children and young people facing diverse difficulties. This is the critical point: different needs should be met with targeted solutions, rather than homogenous ones, and foster care should be considered an intervention to be adapted depending on individual situations, needs, and opportunities. By it’s very nature, foster care is a means, not an ends.

By observing the outcomes, it will become easier to understand what works, as well as how to figure out how to activate different professional competencies, with new solutions. This book gathers the papers presented at the 7th International Foster Care Research Network Meeting held in Padova, Italy on September 9-11, 2013, in collaboration with Fondazione Zancan.