A program of education, training, and support provided to foster parents in a California county through a nonprofit agency is evaluated. The evaluators' experience indicates that: (1) evaluations are gaining in popularity; (2) role shifts by evaluators are sometimes difficult to perceive; (3) program staff are unlikely to use evaluative feedback unless it matches their own agendas; (4) communication breakdowns occur even in small organizations; and (5) the reorganization of existing services is sometimes preferable to development of a new program. Although direct measures of the program's services do not show significant improvement in the status of foster children and foster parenting, it was found that the program does have an impact on the foster care community. Recommendations based on the experience of the evaluators include support of database development and maintenance, improvement of county services coordination, providing of funding for planning and development as well as implementation of a program, close scrutiny of goals of short-term programs, attention of unintended consequences of programs, and continued evaluation of field-based social services. (TJH)