A 2013 study out of the University of Wollongong in Australia found what mattered most to former foster children was how loved, happy, and wanted they felt by their foster care parents.
Most studies which have surveyed former foster youth look at rates of those now adults who have attained employment or attended higher education. This study differs from those previous in that it examines the perceptions and opinions of adults who were in foster care as children, in relation to the important issues of what made successful foster placements and the characteristics of the good foster carer parents.
For the most part, a successful placement is described by participants in terms of how they felt when they are there—”happy, wanted, loved, listened to and safe”. As well as the more commonly known characteristics of good foster carers, ex-foster children nominate important attributes as fun-loving, good-listeners and honest.
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