ABSTRACT

The foster carer is called upon at the moment when a child is taken into care and may look after the child for year or two before adoption has been put legally into place. However, there has been another shocking side to the history of foster mothers. In 1858 Sir Joseph Bazalgette laid down the new sewage system in London. Another impossible difficulty for foster carers is the conflict that their care creates with adoption, if foster care continues for any length of time. There is substantial evidence that adoption is the best solution for children who have to be taken into care. The fact that foster care is paid work may be one good explanation as to why it is seen as temporary by state. This could mean that they had some legal protection, especially in cases where they had been accused of abusing their foster children, or at times when parents demanded that their children should be returned.