Still the Poor Relations? Perspectives on Valuing and Listening to Foster Carers (Report‪)‬

Introduction Debate on the status of foster carers has been a perennial feature of child care policy and practice for many years (Department of Health and Social Security, 1976; Berridge, 1997). More specifically, the perceived low status and poor treatment of many carers have been viewed as damaging to their motivation and retention as well as wasteful of their knowledge and experience. In this article, we consider some of the key issues and underlying themes in this debate and report relevant findings from a recent research study.