ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how to facilitate the creation of a functioning parenting team for children and young people in care. It also looks at supporting foster carers, then at working alongside social workers, and linking the professional network in order to enhance the care given to the children and young people. Working to support carers to provide high quality everyday parenting is, then, the first layer of intervention with professional systems. The next level of support required is in collating the various aspects of the parenting role by bringing together the people in child-focused network meetings. This, then, is the next level of intervention with professional systems. P. Conway holds that the operation of these dynamics can be fatal for effective communication within professional systems, and this means that “the child’s real need for a parental couple who can put their heads together and think about his needs is lost”.
