Although an understanding of the lived experience of foster care relationships can provide valuable information to guide social work practice and policy, few such studies have been carried out. This article presents findings from a qualitative investigation exploring experiences of relationships between foster carers and the young people in their care. Eight care-experienced young people and nine foster carers participated in interviews and focus groups. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to explore their experiences. The insider’s perspective was further amplified through engaging peer researchers with experience of fostering relationships – one a young person who had been in care, the other a long-term carer. Two overarching themes were identified. Firstly, participants made sense of fostering relationships through comparisons with birth family ones, particularly in relation to the impact of care systems, continuing biological family relationships and foster care language. Secondly, previous experiences created barriers to forming positive fostering relationships, but when these were overcome the experience could be life changing. The implications of these findings for social care policy regarding foster carer support, training and matching guidelines are discussed.

尽管了解寄养关系的生活经验可以为指导社会工作实践和政策提供有价值的信息，但很少进行此类研究。本文介绍了一项定性调查的结果，该调查探讨了寄养者与其照料的年轻人之间关系的经验。八名有护理经验的年轻人和九名寄养者参加了访谈和焦点小组。解释性现象学分析（IPA）被用来探索他们的经历。通过让具有培养人际关系经验的同行研究人员参与进来，内部人士的观点得到进一步放大——一个是接受过护理的年轻人，另一个是长期护理者。确定了两个总体主题。首先，参与者通过与出生家庭的比较，特别是在照料系统的影响、持续的生物家庭关系和寄养语言方面，理解了培养关系的意义。其次，以前的经历为形成积极的培养关系创造了障碍，但是当克服这些障碍时，这种经历可能会改变生活。讨论了这些发现对有关寄养者支持、培训和匹配指南的社会关怀政策的影响。