Louise Hardwick reports on an evaluation of the perceptions of foster carers attending a group for carers looking after children with sexualised behaviour. The group aimed to provide foster carers with much needed information, knowledge and understanding about the impact of sexual abuse on a child; how as foster carers they could develop strategies for dealing with challenging behaviour from the foster child; and how they could keep the child and other family members safe and cope with the demands of managing an extraordinary home for children who not only need safety but also emotional closeness. The paper documents the views of group participants and compares responses to the findings of research undertaken by others, especially Farmer and Pollock (1998). Additional evidence from literature that addresses the needs of foster carers and sexually abused foster children is drawn on to give a contextual background to the study.
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