One of the major contemporary concerns is how best to provide stability and permanence for children whose own parents are not able to care for them consistently or predictably.  Adoption is a very important route to achieving this, but stability and permanence can come about in a variety of ways - for example, in stable long-term foster care, or through care by relatives. Unfortunately, stability and permanence are often not achieved or achieved only when children have already suffered much harm to their development and their ability to make and sustain relationships.  So an important question for us is how research can help in understanding how children’s outcomes might be improved.  When do things go right and why do things go wrong?