This somewhat brief publication aims to throw light on what is, as the author points out, a lesser debated aspect of foster care than the role of social workers or those in care. What is original is the way in which the reflections of 46 carers are integrated with key dilemmas and difficulties experienced. This makes it a particularly relevant piece of work in light of The Children Act 2004 that aimed to promote closer co-operation between agencies working with children and raise awareness of the best interests of children, as well as focussing in Part V on fostering. Foster carers are arguably in a unique position to comment on these areas and this is one of Nutt's aims for her book – as well as that of developing a wider understanding of carers' family lives.

The sample of carers interviewed is demographically diverse, although as the author herself notes, their awareness of the interviews being brought into the ‘public domain’ may be argued to have affected their responses to issues, including competency and perspectives. Despite this, Nutt has been careful to include ‘consistency’ measures and as with all other qualitative research the words of the carers can only ever provide their own subjective data.

Chapter 1 provides an effective summary of current research and the development of policy, although some assertions are a little controversial, for example that placing children with a female carer naturally leads to her being dependent on a wage-earning partner – the Government is at pains to point out how many single parents are effective foster carers (25% according to Wheal, Reference Wheal1999) and that, if placed with a male and female, the carer will mainly be female. Further evidence to back this up would have been useful and interesting. Nevertheless, this chapter reviews some of the tensions and restrictions facing foster carers, including debatable criteria evidencing ‘success’ as set out by the state system.

Chapter 2 – ‘Towards a theorising of foster care’ – covers some familiar ground in terms of raising debates surrounding the public v. private domain of the family, in particular the lack of guidance given to carers and the problematic definition of ‘care’. It also highlights one of the key issues currently debated (for example in the BBC Taking Care Series), which is the fact that children in care leave the care system at an average age of 16.5 years, as opposed to the general population, whose average is 22.5 years. Nutt also provides a useful summary of the ‘commodification’ of care, reflecting on key family theory to highlight the position of foster carers.

Chapters 3–6 represent the views of the study sample's carers and raise stated dilemmas such as social isolation – a particuarly poignant section – and restrictions found in behaviour towards/caring of foster children compared to ‘natural’ children. The fact that emotional attachment can be problematic is one of the areas in which Nutt's sample allows the subject to ‘come alive’ and the inclusion of such primary data is a strength of the book. Other interesting areas investigated include the power imbalance between carers and local authorities and the perceived necessity to have more liberal attitudes towards foster children's misbehaviour. These chapters are not only absorbing but make one anticipate the concluding section of Nutt's work as so many areas for recommended policy change become apparent. It would, however, have been useful to be referred to the ‘pen pictures’ provided at the end of the book before or at the beginning of Chapter 3 as one gets rather lost in the sheer amount of names and quotes at times.

Some of the material produced may also lead researchers to identify the lack of material elsewhere representing the views of the foster carers' ‘natural’ children, as they are presented as part of the inextricable situation of foster carers' families. The conclusions do indeed comprise a sensible and original pulling-together of theory and findings, although Nutt is far from comprehensive in recommending policy change. This chapter does, however, go a fair way towards making this publication readable and useful to a reasonably diverse audience. To some extent this section commits the academic ‘sin’ of including a fair amount of new material. In addition, readers are left to wonder whether some of the tentative conclusions concerning carers' stated attitudes towards the difficulties with contact visits need to be supported with evidence and opinions from the foster children themselves.

The rather strange inclusion of Appendix B entitled ‘Vignettes’, which explains that several hypothetical case studies and associated questions were put to carers is worthy of further exploration and discussion and does not sit easily within the publication. It would have been useful to include an additional chapter detailing carers' responses to these ‘Vignettes’, which would also have provided a wealth of qualititative data for ongoing analysis. Despite this, overall Nutt does achieve the major aim identified for the book, that of increasing understanding of the difficulties and tensions facing contemporary foster carers.