Delivering Effective Substitute Care: Lessons from Practice

Kate Cairns, an experienced foster carer, discusses the fundamental questions about the success and limitations of substitute parenting raised in the preceding three articles (Bullock et al, 2006; Hare and Bullock, 2006; Maluccio and Ainsworth, 2006). She describes how she and her husband tried to address them when caring for separated children. It is argued that while parenting foster children is different in some ways from parenting birth children, it is possible to provide separated children with a sense of permanence and a foundation for healthy and fulfilling development. The article is based on an interview with Annemieke Kalsbeek.