Dawn Fiona Byrne McKenzie

1. Staff and carer training needs should be reviewed to ensure that all first time foster carers approved to take children in middle childhood or adolescence should receive Crisis Prevention and Intervention training prior to taking up their first placement.

2. Prospective foster carers when being asked to consider a placement should be given as much information as possible in writing, in a digestible and understandable form, about the child or children who are the subject of the placement to inform their decision as to whether or not to accept the placement offered. Full and detailed notes should be kept of any meetings that occur when the placement is offered to prospective foster carers when such information is passed on.

3. The system of using stated preferences within unrestricted age ranges should be discontinued. Emphasis should instead be given to foster carers’ strengths and abilities and any perceived weaknesses with regard to their ability to care for the child or children to be placed with them. This is especially important for newly approved foster carers.