Acclaimed across three previous editions, this handbook covers British practice aspects of foster care for care providers of children up to 11 years old, including children with special needs. Primarily for foster carers, but also useful in residential care, the book is packed with detailed guidance about looking after children, being looked after, being a foster carer, and living in a fostering household. It is designed to: encourage carer providers to work in partnership with the children and their families * enable children to return to their families when appropriate * enable carer providers to meet the full range of a child's needs * explain the fostering roles and responsibilities. Although there are differences in detail, the governments of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all make similar requirements of carers. The Foster Carer's Handbook will help all carer providers achieve the expectations placed on them and assist them to maintain standards. This fourth edition underlines and encourages the use of relevant government standards and gives examples of good practice. A comprehensive guide that can be called on when just about anything arises, the book has been developed for carer providers to read themselves along with the children they are caring for as well as their own children; to help carers make appropriate decisions and answer the many questions children may ask about their time 'being looked after'; for use as a 'talking tool, ' including activities to help children understand the present, face the future with confidence, and, in time, make their own decisions about their life; for use in supervision and training.