Fostering the future: A Change Agenda in the Provision of Alternative Care

Alternative care is defined as the placement of children within state care and refers to family based care (foster and kinship care) and residential care. This chapter explores aspects of the alternative care system, primarily foster care, which is the principle form of care for looked after children in Ireland. The first section of the chapter provides an historical overview and offers a context for the contemporary picture. The second section relates the pers pectives of key participants - children, biological families and carers. This section focuses on two specific aspects of the care experience, namely education and leaving care. Fin ally, this chapter considers selected policy and legal issues including the concept of permanence, recruitment and retention of carers, kinship care, meeting t he needs of diverse populations an d the future of the social work role arising from changes in th e wider domains.