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This paper presents findings from a longitudinal Dutch study focusing on cultural matching, child and fostering factors associated with the success of foster placements of unaccompanied refugee children. With several questionnaires, we assessed the placement from the perspectives of the children (39), their foster carers (37) and their guardians (37. The quality of the relationship between child and foster carer(s) exhibited an almost one-to-one relationship with ‘placement success’. For children, cultural similarity between a child and their carers, and prosocial behaviour were of great importance. However, for foster carers and guardians, cultural similarity was less related to placement success, than children’s externalizing behaviour and quality of the caregiving environment. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.