Can child and family social work research really assist practice?

British social workers at the sharp end of foster care and social work practice have experienced a flood of official reports in recent years (Association of Directors of Social Services, 1997; Utting, 1997; Warren, 1997), mostly, though not exclusively, highlighting the problems of too few placements for an increasingly challenging number of children and young people. In addition, British and North American foster care research over the past twenty years has shown how children in public, including foster, care have been: