ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is about the relationships that develop between adolescents who are looked after by the local authority and their foster parents. It offers ways of understanding and applying attachment theory to work with adolescents, both those in specialist fostering projects and those experiencing other forms of care. The book provides a perspective for making sense of the powerful dynamics which frequently determine the outcome of a placement and suggests ways in which foster families, social workers and other practitioners may help or hinder adolescents’ efforts to make constructive use of their placements. It argues that the particular skills that are most effective with adolescents in foster care are parental skills, adapted to their particular needs and developmental stage. The book examines the crucial issues of race and gender and the adolescents’ developing racial, cultural and religious identity.
