The RHP Companion to Foster Care
Edited by Ann Wheal Published by Russell House Publishing

With the increasing recognition of the need to acknowledge the foster care of children and young people as a skilled task, this book is very timely. It is also very well done and contains a wealth of material.

The book is divided into three sections covering the areas around the "Child in the Wider Context", "Foster Care Practice" and "Issues".

These three sections contain a total of twenty-seven articles, written by an impressive array of academics, practitioners and researchers and others.

They cover fundamental topics such as "The Changing Perceptions of Children and Childhood" and "Identity Issues". They explore the impact of the changing context of service delivery in articles such as "Independent Agencies" and "The Professionalism of Foster Care" and consider practical matters such as "Fostering Siblings Together", "Men Who Foster" and "Managing Allegations of Abuse Against Carers".

Although a few of the articles are over-verbose, the great majority are written in clear jargon-free language. There are excellent subject and author indexes and full sets of references after each article. A bibliography, formed from a composite of all the references, would have added to the book, but this is only a minor complaint.

Overall this is a very wide-ranging and useful book and should be on the bookshelves of all involved in the practice and development of the vital service of foster care of children and young people.

Jim Hyland
Care Issues Consultant

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