A B S T R AC TThis study investigates the level of agreement between foster parents and foster children about problem behaviour and how this is associated with the breakdown of a foster care placement. The study took a sample of foster parents and their foster children (n = 60), who were aged 11-17 years, and analysed the severity of problem behaviour displayed by the foster children within 3 months of placement in the foster family and a year and a half later. The level of agreement was established with the intra-class correlation coefficient, which represents both the differences in scores and the differences in ranking. This coefficient shows that there is a statistically significant difference in the level of agreement on the Internalizing Problems scale of the Child Behaviour Checklist between the placements that broke down and those that continued. The level of agreement is associated with the severity score, which in turn is associated with the outcome of the foster care placement. To avoid placement breakdown, problem behaviour should also be assessed from the perspective of the foster child.

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This study reports on the use of the Child Behaviour Checklist for children aged 4-18 (CBLC/4-18) as a tool for creating typologies for children and relating these to foster care outcomes. Findings regarding outcomes were consistent with previous studies that focused on child variables rather than profiles, however profiles do appear to be helpful with identifying to categories of children who are most vulnerable to foster placement breakdown: withdrawn children and aggressive-delinquent children.KEY WORDS: foster children; outcome; typology.If parents are no longer capable of rearing their child, the child may be referred to some form of foster care. Traditionally, foster care used to be provided as a long-term settlement for the child. In the course of time new forms of foster care have been developed, such as temporary foster care as a way of crisis intervention (duration of the child's stay in the foster family is restricted to three months) and therapeutic foster care (these foster children have more severe problems than those in long-term foster care). According to McAuley and Trew (2000) the most striking problem of long-term foster care is the high rate of breakdowns, that is unfavourable terminations of care, which varies between 20 and 50%, depending on the geographical region concerned. Breakdowns usually have a negative affect on foster children. Larsson, Bohlin, and Stenbacka (1986) suggest that a premature termination may induce the child to develop more emotional and behaviour problems, which in turn trigger more premature terminated placements and consequently more and more emotional and behaviour problems. Children without problem behaviour also show an increased risk of emotional and behavioural problems after placement in another foster

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Information obtained from 419 case files was used to investigate the associations between the foster child's adjustment to the foster family and factors in the histories of the child and the parents, as well as factors in the relationship between foster children and their biological parents while they are placed in foster care. Problems in the foster child's prior history, particularly attachment disorders and the experience of replacements, affect the extent of adjustment to the foster family. In-home visits by the child and the absence of parental permission to stay with the foster family are two factors related to the parent-child relationship that impeded adjustment. In general, parental problem factors did not affect adjustment. The fact that many foster children come from problem-laden backgrounds raises the question of whether foster parents are always sufficiently equipped to cope with these problems.