Ian Sinclair is Co-director of the Social Work Research and Development Unit at The University of York, where he has been responsible for a large programme of work on children's homes and foster care. His research interests include attachment theory and the evaluation of social work and social work services. Ian Gibbs is a Researcher at the Social Work Research and Development Unit at The University of York. His main research interest is looked after children, particularly those in residential care and foster care. Kate Wilson is Professor of Social Work at the Centre for Social Work, University of Nottingham. She has researched and published widely in the fields of therapeutic work and child welfare, including books on social work with couples, social work in a legal context, non-directive play therapy, and child protection.

Using evidence from the three studies, the authors carefully detail exactly who foster carers are, and why they do their job. It also explores the strains and satisfactions of fostering and the support that carers feel they need. I commend this to all social work professionals and policy makers involved in foster care. Foster carers themselves may also be interested in order to hear their views and values reiterated, echoed and evaluated throughout this comprehensive book.

• Acknowledgements. 1. Background and introduction. 2. Who are the carers? 3. Kinds of fostering. 4. Strains and satisfactions. 5. Who finds it easiest to foster? 6. Stressful `events' for foster carers. 7. Informal and formal support. 8. Continuing and ceasing to foster. 9. Explaining outcomes: putting the variables together. 10. Conclusion. Appendix 1: Sample representativeness. Appendix 2: Census pro-forma. Appendix 3: Kinship carers. References. Subject Index. Author Index.

Ian Sinclair is Co-director of the Social Work Research and Development Unit at The University of York, where he has been responsible for a large programme of work on children's homes and foster care. His research interests include attachment theory and the evaluation of social work and social work services. Ian Gibbs is a Researcher at the Social Work Research and Development Unit at The University of York. His main research interest is looked after children, particularly those in residential care and foster care. Kate Wilson is Professor of Social Work at the Centre for Social Work, University of Nottingham. She has researched and published widely in the fields of therapeutic work and child welfare, including books on social work with couples, social work in a legal context, non-directive play therapy, and child protection.

Using evidence from the three studies, the authors carefully detail exactly who foster carers are, and why they do their job. It also explores the strains and satisfactions of fostering and the support that carers feel they need. I commend this to all social work professionals and policy makers involved in foster care. Foster carers themselves may also be interested in order to hear their views and values reiterated, echoed and evaluated throughout this comprehensive book.

• Acknowledgements. 1. Background and introduction. 2. Who are the carers? 3. Kinds of fostering. 4. Strains and satisfactions. 5. Who finds it easiest to foster? 6. Stressful `events' for foster carers. 7. Informal and formal support. 8. Continuing and ceasing to foster. 9. Explaining outcomes: putting the variables together. 10. Conclusion. Appendix 1: Sample representativeness. Appendix 2: Census pro-forma. Appendix 3: Kinship carers. References. Subject Index. Author Index.