particular day in 1998 and had been with their foster carer for at least three months. The children were followed up one and three years later. Respondents were asked to indicate if the child was considered disabled on three different occasions over time, with different respondents. It was decided to group the children into three classifications as a result: ‘clearly disabled’, ‘not disabled’ and ‘contested’. Respondents were also asked to indicate the areas of ‘difficulty’ and their responses were grouped into two categories: ‘learning impaired’ (learning, behaviour and communication) and physically impaired (mobility and sensory to include seeing and hearing difficulties). Limitations of the study were related to the subjectivity of respondents’ perspectives highlighted by the variance in their views on whether or not children were disabled.However, the study provides insights into the needs and experiences of disabled care leavers, allowing for comparisons to be drawn with the non-disabled population.	experienced placement disruption. Interestingly, although overall the likelihood of achieving permanency drops as children grew older, the ‘clearly disabled’ group fared better than the ‘contested’ or non-disabled group at an older age. The continuing support needs of disabled young people as they move into adult life was emphasised. Inadequate support for young people who had ‘learning impairments’ but did not meet eligibility criteria for adult disability services were of particular concern. The young people living independently experienced difficulties relating to budgeting, social isolation and unemployment. The study recommended that social services should adopt more effective procedures for identifying and monitoring all disabled children in the public care system. Targeted improvements in the outcomes for disabled care leavers should be centred on the aspirations of the young people themselves and secure financial arrangements to enable disabled young people to remain with their carers. Foster carers also need to be involved more in transitional planning and supporting young people once they have left care. In addition, Baker (2007) recommended that: professionals working with these care leavers should have knowledge of both disability and care issues; further education and work opportunities should be expanded; and collaboration between child and adult services should be enhanced.
Blakeslee, J. E., Del Quest, A., Powers, J., Powers, L. E., Geenen, S., Nelson, M., Dalton, L. D. & McHugh, E. (2013). Reaching everyone: Promoting the inclusion of youth with disabilities in evaluating foster care outcomes. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(11), 1801-1808.	USA: The strategies described herein reflect our experiences conducting three experimental evaluations of an intervention to increase self- determination among youth in foster	This article describes strategies that were successfully used to identify, recruit, track, and retain almost 400 youth in foster care who experience disabilities and are one of the most disproportionately represented, least understood, and most at-risk groups in the child welfare system. Our experience underscores the feasibility of involving these