Abstract
The needs of foster carers are complex as children in their care often present with complex emotional and behavioural difficulties. Previous studies have examined foster carers’ perceptions of the unmet needs of the children in their care but there is a lack of knowledge regarding carers’ own goals when seeking professional help. The present study seeks to fill this gap by examining the goals that carers who are looking after children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties set at the start of an intervention, the Reflective Fostering Programme, designed to support them. Twenty-six foster carers were asked to complete a Goal-Based Outcome Measure (GBOM) before starting the programme. Qualitative content analysis revealed five main categories of goals. Three were child focused (child’s relationships, challenging behaviours and emotions) and two were foster carer focused (personal goals and goals related to participating in the programme). By understanding the types of goals meaningful to foster carers, interventions can be developed to better target their specific needs and allow outcome measures to be more closely aligned to their goals. Results are discussed in terms of implications for the development and evaluation of interventions to support foster carers and the children they look after.