As child welfare agencies confront limited resources and increasing demands for demonstrating
positive results from expenditures, growing attention has been directed to the potential benefits
of training programs for foster parents. A number of such programs have been designed and
tried by child welfare agencies, and numerous claims have been made regarding the purported
beneficial effects and positive consequences of training programs for foster care. However, few
empirical studies have been reported that support these claims. This article summarizes what
has been found in the few controlled studies of the effects of foster parent training and reports
on an evaluative research project that examined one such program. Implications of the limited
knowledge m this area are then examined.
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