Racial Matching in Fostering: The Challenge to Social Work Practice Book

	List of Tables and Figures
	Terminological Note
	Acknowledgements
1	Introduction: The Emergence of a New Policy	1
	The aims of the study	3
	Social work, ethnicity and 'race': some dominant perspectives	5
	A critique of previous research	11
	A policy of 'black homes for black children'	19
2	Power and Perspective: Key Methodological Issues	27
	The case study approach	27
	Strategies of data collection	30
3	A New Approach to Child Placement: The Diffusion of Same Race Fostering Practice	49
	Out-facing the two faces of power: strategies for change	50
4	Arrival on the Local Scene: The Interpretation of Ideas into Practice	65
	Formal policy and unofficial practice guidelines	66
	Changes in practice	70
	Pressure for change	72
	The main obstacles to change	76
	The impetus for change	79
	The relationship between policy and practice	82
	Conclusion	83
5	Discussing the Details: Consciousness-Raising within the Fostering Team	86
	Factors affecting acceptance within the Fostering Section	88
	Strategies for change	90
	Factors affecting acceptance within the local community	97
	Team ethos	102
	Race Awareness Training	108
	Power and conflict	109
6	A Documentary Account: Analysis of Team Meeting Minutes	110
	Developments up to the first conference of the Association of Black Social Workers and Allied Professions	111
	The first ABSWAP conference: a turning point?	114
	The fate of the Black Home Finding Unit	116
	The development of a policy of 'racial matching'	121
	'The Black Campaign'	124
	The demise of the 'Black Action Group'	130
	Influences on the development of policy	132
7	Supply and Demand: The Shaping of Recruitment Procedure	137
	Why black people did not apply in the past	137
	Changes in the recruitment procedure	140
	Reactions to the campaign within the black community	146
	Conclusion	150
8	Assessment and the Challenge to Cultural Pluralism	151
	The concept of 'family'	152
	The conventional family and fostering	155
	The pluralist challenge	158
	Cultural pluralism: a double-edged dilemma?	170
9	Inter-Cultural Skills, Professionalism and Commonsense	175
	The views of the social workers	175
	Applicants' views and perceptions	177
	Personality and commonsense	182
	Conclusion	184
10	Public Policy, Private Space: The Inherent Conflict in Assessment Policies	187
	Differences in black/white understandings of 'public' and 'private'	188
	Managing self-presentation: black/white profiles of competence in the fostering process	196
	Private shame or public injustice?	197
	Conclusion	198
11	A New Departure: Group Assessment and Training	201
	The 'Mixed Group'	203
	The 'All Black Group'	212
	Conclusion	218
12	An Ambivalent Station
	The Contradictory Position of the Black Co-Worker	220
	A challenging role?	221
	Ambiguous role definition	223
	The relevance of ethnicity	231
	Conclusion	241
13	A Discriminatory Dilemma: Examining the Inter-Personal Dynamics of Black Co-Worker Presence	246
	The optimum strategy for the applicant	247
	The foster parent as an ally?	249
	Conclusion	253
14	Conclusion: Cultural Politics and Fostering Practice	255
	Responses to the challenge of 'racial matching'	256
	Responses to the challenge in the borough of the case study	257
	Collective organisation and the influence of ABSWAP	258
	Moving into the 1990s	271
	Appendix 1: Postal questionnaire to the London boroughs	275
	Appendix 2: Organisations consulted during the study	281
	Bibliography	282
	Name Index	306
	Subject Index	312