ABSTRACT
[2] Fostering in the seventies Jane Rowe zuho is director of ABAFA analyses different aspects of fostering in this shortened version of her papery Fostering in the seventies and beyond, which is available from ABAFA price 2$p Fostering is a generalised concept. The word is used to cover a wide variety of situations in which a child is cared for in a family other than his own. It ranges from day fostering, which is virtually synonymous with daily minding, to permanent placements which are the equivalent to adoption in everything but the legal sense. Foster care - a guide to practice published by the DHSS (HMSO 1976) says: 'Fostering is not in itself a single identifiable method of care. It offers a range of placements which have in common only the fact that they provide care in a family setting.' No wonder therefore that confusion about aims and methods of practice is widespread and that a group of people discussing fostering may unwittingly be talking about almost totally dissimilar situations requiring very different approaches. A further confusion arises from the American use of the phrase 'foster care' to include residential care.
