Foster care assessment placements

Community Care starts an interesting debate on the anecdotal rise in mother & baby foster placements as an alternative to residential assessments. My experience is that some local authorities have been encouraging this alternative to residential assessments for some time if they have the right pool of professional foster carers to deal with the parents in appropriate cases. It can offer a lot better and less bruising experience to parents than residential but it is never available to couples. It would be fascinating to know what your experience is nationwide on the effect of the public funding changes on the use of residential assessment units? Comments please.