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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on July 19, 2006
British Journal of Social Work 2007 37(7):1205-1224; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcl061
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Gaining Satisfaction? An Exploration of Foster-Carers’ Attitudes to Payment

Derek Kirton, Jennifer Beecham and Kate Ogilvie

Derek Kirton is a Lecturer in Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Kent.

Jennifer Beecham is a Reader in Social Policy at the University of Kent and works at the Centre for the Economics of Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry.

Kate Ogilvie is Performance Manager, Bath and North East Somerset Council and was formerly a Research Officer at the University of Kent.

Correspondence to Dr Derek Kirton, Cornwallis North East, Canterbury CT2 7NF, UK. E-mail: D.Kirton{at}kent.ac.uk

The payment of foster-carers has long been controversial, reflecting both philosophical debates as to whether fostering should be a voluntaristic or professional activity and concerns about placement provision and service delivery for children. Although many research studies have touched upon the question of foster-carers’ satisfaction with payments, this has not been explored in any depth. Drawing on findings from a study involving 1,181 foster-carers in twenty-one agencies, this article attempts to provide such an analysis with four main objectives. These comprised: examining associations between attitudes towards payment and demographic, socio-economic and fostering career variables; comparing responses between carers based in local authorities (grouped according to levels of payment and performance criteria) and independent agencies (IFAs); gauging the influence of carers’ ‘orientations’ towards foster-care as a ‘professional’ task; and analysing payments in terms of their different components, such as fees, maintenance and certain designated expenses. Among many detailed findings to emerge were the generally low level of satisfaction among local authority carers, especially in comparison with their IFA counterparts and the growing support among carers for salaried status. There was mixed evidence on links between attitudes towards remuneration and the performance of agencies.

Keywords: foster-care, remuneration, professionalization, independent fostering agencies


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