Including birth families in foster care: A Canadian-British comparison

This study compares the foster placement experiences of 228 children in Canada with 141 children in Britain, with a focus on practices encouraging birth parent involvement. There was a remarkable similarity in reasons for placement between the two countries, except for parental addictions, sexual abuse, and distinctions between physical ‘abuse’ and ‘neglect’. The British workers had more training in dealing with separation and more child welfare experience. Their practices were more inclusive of birth families. In both countries, however, birth families were generally not included in the initial placement of their children, contrary to accepted separation theory.