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These two publications apply to all four UK nations (UK Joint Working Party on Foster Care, 1999a; UK Joint Working Party on Foster Care, 1999b). They were the first attempt, in the UK, to create a Code of Practice and National Standards for foster care. Mehmet, writing about the UK National Standards and Code of Practice, wrote:

These two documents set out to establish what was to be expected from everyone involved in foster care, the fostering teams, children's social workers and carers. The work of the Joint Working Party on Foster Care which produced these documents opened the way for Standards in foster care to be recognised across the United Kingdom.

(Mehmet, 2005, p3)

The English, Scottish and Welsh Governments subsequently published their own national standards for foster care (Department of Education, 2011a; The Scottish Executive, 2005; Welsh Assembly Government, 2003). Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have all developed their own Code of Practice (Wales Code of Practice Working Group, 1999; The Scottish Executive and the Fostering Network, 2004; Department of Health and Social Service, 1999). Although the UKNSFC and Code of Practice were not legally binding, they did in effect establish best practice guidance in foster care. They remain helpful detailed documents about foster care and social work practice and are worth practitioners’ and social work students’ attention.