Gaining satisfaction? An exploration of foster-carers' attitudes to payment

The payment of foster-carers has long been controversial, reflecting both philosophical debates as to whether fostering should be a voluntaristic or professional activity and concerns about placement provision and service delivery for children. Although many research studies have touched upon the question of foster-carers’ satisfaction with payments, this has not been explored in any depth. Drawing on findings from a study involving 1,181 foster-carers in twenty-one agencies, this article attempts to provide such an analysis with four main objectives. These comprised: examining associations between attitudes towards payment and demographic, socio-economic and fostering career variables; comparing responses between carers based in local authorities (grouped according to levels of payment and performance criteria) and independent agencies (IFAs); gauging the influence of carers’ ‘orientations’ towards foster-care as a ‘professional’ task; and analysing payments in terms of their different components, such as fees, maintenance and certain designated expenses. Among many detailed findings to emerge were the generally low level of satisfaction among local authority carers, especially in comparison with their IFA counterparts and the growing support among carers for salaried status. There was mixed evidence on links between attitudes towards remuneration and the performance of agencies.