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What are your thoughts on the foster carers, the Dixons?

Not nice people. They are on drugs.

They're horrible! Absolutely should not be allowed to care for children.

How on earth do they pass the inspections? This makes the foster care system seem dysfunctional and/or corrupt.

How on earth were they allowed to become foster carers, they weren't even hiding things with Will when she kept calling them 'shits' and he went on about not getting the money if she wasn't there. Horrible, horrible people who should most definitely not have children anywhere near them. This for me stretched the credibility of the book.

>5 Andrew-theQM: Oh no...this was unfortunately entirely credible. The Foster Care system must have been more desperate that usual. There are some really good foster parents out there but unfortunately a lot of them are just in it for the money. The system is always broke and shorthanded so some of the less than desirable ones like the Dixon's slide by. Most that are taking the system for a ride have sense enough to clean up better for the inspections.

awful people just using the foster kids for the money they bring in from the state (and from stealing, apparently!) As least they didn't seem to be into pimping them so there was a line they hadn't crossed ...yet.

>6 Carol420: That is sad and beyond! I have a lot to do with Foster Carers in my work with school (a lot of work has been put in this area over the past 10 years) and have found all the recent ones I have dealt with to be excellent - maybe I've just been lucky. I'm not saying some aren't doing it for the money, but they have seemed to be taking it seriously and taking excellent care of the children. There are an awful lot of steps to go through in this country, and I was interviewed by social care when one of my staff wanted to start fostering.
What I also can't believe is that a message was passed on to Julie from the parents by school, this just wouldn't (or at least shouldn't) be allowed.

>8 Andrew-theQM: You are right that it is beyond sad. There are just so terribly many children that need foster parents and so few people that have the time or the resources any more. I have a friend that retired from Human Services that arranged foster care and she said that in the big cities especially there are sometimes thousands of children that need this service but due to the need for there being two income households now there just isn't enough able bodied people to accommodate them physically or financially. Some cities have done away with the two parent requirement and will now accept a single parent.

>9 Carol420: As you travel round the UK you regularly see adverts for foster carers, even on roundabouts, been a very big push over the past few years. Ridiculous that you need two incomes in a households, precludes families where one or other of the family stays at home to look after the children. Even more so as being a foster parent is rather like a job that brings its own income.

It's appalling to think that foster parents don't have regular checks made on them. More money should be put into the system if it's so stretched it can't do this.