| Summary: | The study addresses an important gap in the research, the nature of foster placement matching for adolescents. The study setting was an established, specialist adolescent fostering scheme in a large local authority social work department. Contextual data was collected by preliminary fieldwork and analysis of agency documents. Data was collected observation and interview at the site of placement decision-making and this was analysed by a novel method which employed text-based, meaning-centred and simple quantitative analytical techniques. The enquiry centred on possible inconsistencies between the agency's aspiration for its matching practice and what actually took place in the decision-making. The practice was found to deviate from its intended goals in important ways and to leave placements open to risk of instability, breakdown and failing to meet childrens needs. Certain of the findings lend strong support to current developments in the field with regard to care planning, recording and monitoring. They also raise questions yet to be addressed in policy, practice or research about the relationship between the care agency, as seeker and regulator of foster placement resources, and foster carers, as the provides. The study concludes with recommendations based on its findings.
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