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Matched Comparison of Children in Kinship Care and Foster Care on Child Welfare Outcomes
Abstract
The documented growth of kinship care has boldly thrust this topic into the forefront of child welfare practice. This study compares the permanency, safety, and stability outcomes for a matched group of children placed in kinship care and foster care. After controlling for demographic and placement characteristics, children in kinship care had significantly fewer placements than did children in foster care, and they were less likely to still be in care, have a new allegation of institutional abuse or neglect, be involved with the juvenile justice system, and achieve reunification. These findings call for a greater commitment by child welfare professionals, policy makers, and researchers to make kinship care a viable out-of-home placement option for children and families.
... Several studies (Delfabbro, Fernandez, McCormick, & Kettler, 2013;Hayward & DePanfilis, 2007;Hernandez-Mekonnen, 2012;M. Lopez, del Valle, Montserrat, & Bravo, 2013;Pabustan-Claar, 2007a, 2007bPrice et al., 2008;Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008) concluded that children in kinship care have a lower Compared children placed in care due to parental alcohol and other drug use (AOD; Sample 1) with children placed in care not due to reasons of parental AOD (Sample 2) Children initially placed in kinship care, the parent AOD sample remained in care longer than did the non-AOD sample Placement in kinship or foster family placements did not significantly predict reunification or adoption outcomes (continued) likelihood of reunification or they remain in care longer compared to children in foster family care. However, three studies (D'Andrade, 2009;Gaddis, 2011;Koh, 2010) concluded that children in kinship care had a greater likelihood of reunification, and another study (Koh & Testa, 2008) found that children in kinship homes were more likely to reunify within 1 or 2 years of entry to care, but no statistically significant differences were found after 3 years. ...
... Outcomes. Koh and Testa (2011) investigated whether type of predischarge placement impacted reentry, and Winokur et al. (2008) investigated reentry rate by placement type. ...
... However, kinship homes were slightly worse (i.e., 10% of kinship and 6% of foster homes rated poor quality). In contrast, Winokur et al. (2008) reported that children in foster family care were more likely to report new allegations of institutional abuse or neglect in comparison to children in kinship placements. ...
Over the past 25 years, kinship care placements have risen dramatically, such that when a child enters into care, child welfare agencies must first attempt to identify safe living arrangements with relatives or individuals known to the child before searching for alternatives. Despite the growing emphasis on kinship care, little is known about its impact on child outcomes in comparison to other placement types (e.g., foster family). Therefore, the aim of this scoping review was to evaluate quantitative research on children in out-of-home care from 2007 to 2014 with regard to the following outcomes: (1) permanency (i.e., reunification, reentry, placement stability, and adoption/guardianship) and (2) safety (e.g., additional reports to child welfare). Based on these objectives, the review identified 54 studies that examined permanency and safety among children in two major placement types, namely foster family and kinship care. Across studies, children in kinship care experienced greater permanency in terms of a lower rate of reentry, greater placement stability, and more guardianship placements in comparison to children living with foster families. Children in kinship care, however, had lower rates of adoption and reunification. The findings also indicated that differences in these variables diminish over time. Findings for safety outcomes were mixed. Study methodological limitations and recommendations for future research are considered.
... Research on kinship care has grown in recent years as the child welfare system increasingly relies on kin as a resource for children who need outof-home care. Studies report better outcomes for children in kinship foster care than for those in nonkin foster care (Altshuler, 1999;Cuddleback, 2004;Koh & Testa, 2011;Link, 1996;Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008). Compared to children in nonkinship foster care, children in kinship care were less likely to have behavioral issues (Rubin et al., 2008;Sakai et al., 2011), and more likely to experience fewer placement disruption (Perry, Daly, & Kotler, 2012;Webster, Barth, & Needell, 2000;Winokur et al., 2008) and more reunifications (Blakey, 2012;Winokur et al., 2008). ...
... Studies report better outcomes for children in kinship foster care than for those in nonkin foster care (Altshuler, 1999;Cuddleback, 2004;Koh & Testa, 2011;Link, 1996;Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008). Compared to children in nonkinship foster care, children in kinship care were less likely to have behavioral issues (Rubin et al., 2008;Sakai et al., 2011), and more likely to experience fewer placement disruption (Perry, Daly, & Kotler, 2012;Webster, Barth, & Needell, 2000;Winokur et al., 2008) and more reunifications (Blakey, 2012;Winokur et al., 2008). Although these results are encouraging, some studies caution us to pay attention to differences in characteristics in children who enter kinship foster care and those who enter nonkinship foster care (see Grogan-Kaylor, 2000;Koh & Testa, 2011). ...
... Studies report better outcomes for children in kinship foster care than for those in nonkin foster care (Altshuler, 1999;Cuddleback, 2004;Koh & Testa, 2011;Link, 1996;Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008). Compared to children in nonkinship foster care, children in kinship care were less likely to have behavioral issues (Rubin et al., 2008;Sakai et al., 2011), and more likely to experience fewer placement disruption (Perry, Daly, & Kotler, 2012;Webster, Barth, & Needell, 2000;Winokur et al., 2008) and more reunifications (Blakey, 2012;Winokur et al., 2008). Although these results are encouraging, some studies caution us to pay attention to differences in characteristics in children who enter kinship foster care and those who enter nonkinship foster care (see Grogan-Kaylor, 2000;Koh & Testa, 2011). ...
This article suggests that kin are engaged as a resource by local departments of social services and diverted into informal kinship care, outside of foster care, and that these families often are not connected to services. The authors offer a procedure for insuring that kin who are diverted are connected to kinship navigators and direct services.
... Particular attention is paid to similarities and differences in experiences of the two groups in an Australian context. the family or community as caregivers (AIHW, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017; Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008). For foster and kin carers, the circumstances that brought the child into care may directly impact on the carer as well as the child. ...
... However, there are a limited number of studies that compare the two carer cohorts, specifically within the Australian context. Comparative studies undertaken in Canada (Perry, Daly & Kotler, 2012), the USA (Swanke, Yampolskaya, Strozier, & Armstrong, 2016;Winokur et al., 2008), the UK (Farmer, 2010;Kinsey & Schlösser, 2013;Sykes, Sinclair, Gibbs, & Wilson, 2002), Belgium (Vanschoonlandt, Vanderfaeillie, Van Holen, De Maeyer, & Andries, 2012), Norway (Holtan, Rønning, Handegård, & Sourander, 2005) and the Netherlands (Strijker, Zandberg, & van Der Meulen, 2003) found that kin and foster carers were similar in age, and that the children in care were similar in age and behavioural challenges. In a self-report comparative study, Strijker et al. (2003) found no differences between Dutch foster and kin carers in demographics, the quality of the carerchild relationship, the child's behaviour, contact with birth family, and their role as caregivers. ...
... The international studies also note that kin placements were more stable than foster placements because of the pre-existing relationships, yet kin carers were more disadvantaged when compared with foster carers where education, ongoing training, and other support services were considered (Kinsey & Schlösser, 2013;Perry, Daly, & Kotler, 2012;Strijker et al., 2003;Swanke et al., 2016;Sykes et al., 2002;Vanschoonlandt et al., 2012). Studies that compared outcomes for children in foster care with outcomes for children in kin care found that children in foster care had higher reunification rates (Winokur et al., 2008), while kin placements lasted longer had greater placement stability because there were fewer interruptions to placements (Farmer, 2010), and wider family connections (Winokur, Holtan, & Batchelder, 2018). ...
The number of children in need of out-of-home care (OOHC) continues to increase in Australia, and numbers of kin carers (relatives of the cared-for) match or exceed those of foster carers. Like foster carers, kin carers have a vital role in OOHC, yet kin carers typically receive less training and fewer support services. The carer role is complex and demanding, and the wellbeing of foster and kin carers is vital to the ongoing provision of OOHC to children who cannot live with their parents. The current research explores the perceived wellbeing of foster and kin carers, with attention to the different experiences of the two groups. A cohort of 210 foster and 116 kin carers completed an online survey that assessed stress, role satisfaction, mental health, perceptions of the child in their care, and access to services that support their role. While overall wellbeing was similar for the two groups, kin carers reported greater stress and mental health concerns than foster carers. The two groups also differed on demographic variables, including the age of the carers, training for the caring role and the length of time they have been in the caregiving role. Furthermore, kin carers reported accessing fewer services, training, and support; and had significantly less contact with service providers as compared to foster carers. In response to the increased number of children placed with kin, government and private service providers need to consider their foster and kin care policies and service delivery practices to include training, support, and access to services for all carers, with specific attention to improving carer wellbeing and satisfaction.
... Kinship caregivers provide children with a sense of family support (Iglehart, 1994) which, in addition to the familiarity and continuity offered by kin placements, may lessen the trauma a child experiences when placed in out-ofhome (OOH) care (Ehrle & Geen, 2002). Evidence from a small but growing body of research also suggests that children placed in kinship care experience better outcomes in comparison to children placed in non-relative foster care (Bell & Romano, 2015;Winokur, Holtan, & Batchelder, 2015), including increased placement stability (Iglehart, 1994;Koh, 2010;Koh, Rolock, Cross, & Eblen-Manning, 2014;Perry, Daly, & Kotler, 2012;Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi & Valentine, 2008), fewer subsequent allegations of abuse or neglect (Connell et al., 2009;Winokur et al., 2008), and fewer re-entries into OOH care (Koh & Testa, 2011). ...
... Kinship caregivers provide children with a sense of family support (Iglehart, 1994) which, in addition to the familiarity and continuity offered by kin placements, may lessen the trauma a child experiences when placed in out-ofhome (OOH) care (Ehrle & Geen, 2002). Evidence from a small but growing body of research also suggests that children placed in kinship care experience better outcomes in comparison to children placed in non-relative foster care (Bell & Romano, 2015;Winokur, Holtan, & Batchelder, 2015), including increased placement stability (Iglehart, 1994;Koh, 2010;Koh, Rolock, Cross, & Eblen-Manning, 2014;Perry, Daly, & Kotler, 2012;Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi & Valentine, 2008), fewer subsequent allegations of abuse or neglect (Connell et al., 2009;Winokur et al., 2008), and fewer re-entries into OOH care (Koh & Testa, 2011). ...
This study examined the impact of a kinship supports intervention implemented in 16 children services agencies. Children placed with kin experienced greater stability, reached permanency more quickly, and were less likely to experience subsequent maltreatment or re-enter care than children placed in non-relative foster care. Furthermore, children receiving intervention services experienced shorter, more stable placements than children placed with kin in comparison counties. Policy and research implications are discussed.
... Indeed, many grandmothers report concerns about their abilities to parent young grandchildren (Burton, 1992). Despite many disadvantages faced by relative caregivers, some research suggests that children in kinship care are just as safe as children in non-kinship care placements (Koh & Testa, 2011; Testa, Bruhn, & Helton, 2010; Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008), and children tend to experience fewer placement disruptions in kinship care than in non-kinship care placements (e.g. Koh, 2010; Strozier & Krisman, 2007; Testa, 2001 Testa, , 2002 Winokur et al., 2008; Zinn, DeCoursey, Goerge, & Courtney, 2006). ...
... Despite many disadvantages faced by relative caregivers, some research suggests that children in kinship care are just as safe as children in non-kinship care placements (Koh & Testa, 2011; Testa, Bruhn, & Helton, 2010; Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008), and children tend to experience fewer placement disruptions in kinship care than in non-kinship care placements (e.g. Koh, 2010; Strozier & Krisman, 2007; Testa, 2001 Testa, , 2002 Winokur et al., 2008; Zinn, DeCoursey, Goerge, & Courtney, 2006). In terms of child well-being outcomes, previous studies suggest that children in kinship care may exhibit fewer behavioral problems than those in non-kinship care, but the evidence to date is still inconclusive. ...
... 102 Research has shown that children in kinship care with relatives or grandparents fare much better than those who are placed in foster care. 103 They have significantly fewer placements and are less likely to still be in care. Children in kinship care with relatives have fewer allegations of institutional abuse or neglect, and are less likely to be involved with the juvenile justice system. ...
My focus is on the role of African-American grandmothers and the role that they play in the cycle of incarceration that is prevalent in poor black communities. The mass incarceration of African-American men and women has affected African-American families in monumental ways. In this Essay, I will primarily focus on: (1) the history of African-American grandmothers in the United States; (2) their status when they take on the role of raising grandchildren of their incarcerated children; and (3) the impact of mass female incarceration on these children. Finally, I will offer some possible solutions to reduce the impact on the families of African-American women caught in the gender entrapment cycle of crime and imprisonment.
... Bolton and colleagues (1981) estimate the rate of maltreatment allegations in foster care to be 7 percent over 3 years, whereas others have suggested a rate of 15 percent over 5 years (Zuravin et al., 1993). Including children's complete durations in care, rates of reported maltreatment were estimated to be as high as 18.5 percent in NRFC and as low as 2.2 percent in FKC (Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008). States' estimates of substantiated maltreatment in foster care have ranged from 0.2 to 1.7 percent, with the lowest rates for sexual abuse and higher rates for physical abuse and neglect (Billings & Moore, 2004;California Department of Social Services, 2001;Spencer & Knudsen, 1992). ...
Safety, or the absence of maltreatment, is the primary mandate of the child protection services (CPS) system, both for children living at home and those living away from home. Yet, few research studies have examined maltreatment in out-of-home care due to the low incidence rate and data limitations. This study used statewide administrative data to estimate the association between placement type and experiencing a maltreatment investigation or substantiation in out-of-home care. Over 6 percent of informal TANF-funded kinship placements experienced an investigation alleging maltreatment by an out-of-home caregiver, compared with just over 3 percent for formal kinship care and non-relative foster care. However, the monthly risk of maltreatment was lowest in informal kinship care because these placements tended to endure longer before maltreatment occurred. Substantiated maltreatment during an out-of-home placement was rare across all placement types. For both investigated and substantiated maltreatment, risk was highest in the first 3 months.
... They postulate abject poverty and associated social disorganization experienced disproportionately by African Americans and American Indians/Aboriginal peoples are risk factors for maltreatment and subsequent child welfare services involvement. Interestingly, whites who are in similar circumstances may be more likely to be endangered by physical abuse and to be reported than African Americans ), but the sheer rate at which African Americans live in these conditions results in overall disproportionate representation in reporting tend to be longer than other placement types (Chipungu, Everett, Verduik & Jones, 1998); there is a suggestion in some studies (Goerge, Wulczyn & Harden, 1995) that their stay in kinship care placements tend to be longer than other placement types, but the findings are not always consistent (Chipungu, Everett, Verduik & Jones, 1998;Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi & Valentine, 2008 . To illustrate, qualitative analyses in one recent study revealed law enforcement officers were responsible for placing a higher proportion of African American children as a result of law enforcement involvement with families. ...
... 10 Likelihood of juvenile justice system involvement is reportedly lower for those children in kinship foster care. 11 Another study found few differences between children in kinship versus nonkinship foster care with regard to physical health. 12 We were unable to locate studies that have separately examined the health and MH of children in informal kinship care after a child welfare investigation. ...
To assess the sociodemographic, health, and mental health of children in different types of out-of-home placements after investigation by child welfare agencies; to determine whether there are systematic differences in the children and their caregivers by type of out-of-home placements; and to provide the first description of these characteristics in a nationally representative sample for children in informal kinship care after child welfare involvement.
Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW II), we compared children (0-17.5 years) in formal nonkinship foster care, formal kinship foster care, and informal kinship care shortly after a child welfare investigation. All analyses were weighted to reflect the sampling design.
Children in informal kinship care are at comparable risk of having chronic health conditions and poorer health but are less likely to receive school-based services. All children in kinship care (formal and informal) are less likely to be reported to have mental health problems and are more likely to live with older caregivers whose educational level is low and whose health is reportedly poorer.
Although children in kinship care have health problems similar to children in nonkinship foster care, they are likely to live in families with fewer economic and educational resources. This mismatch between need and access has implications for the long-term well-being of the children who are living in informal kinship arrangements without system-level support of formal foster care.
Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.
... Considerable research shows that repeated moves while in the care of a child protection agency are associated with elevated rates of physical and mental health diagnoses, homelessness after leaving care, involvement with the criminal justice system, and use of illicit drugs Dworsky, Napolitano, & Courtney, 2013;Paxman, 2006;Rubin, O'Reilly, Luan, & Localio, 2007, Rubin et al., 2004. We recognize, however, that placement stability is an imperfect indicator of placement quality, and that the fact that placements with kin are usually relatively stable (Chamberlain et al., 2006;Perry et al., 2012;Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008;Winokur et al., 2009; but see Herring, Shook, Goodkind, & Kim, 2009;Oosterman, Schuengel, Slot, Bullens, & Doreleijers, 2007) does not imply that they are necessarily in the best interests of the child. ...
The use of kinship families to provide foster care has been increasing due to changes in legislation and the hope that it will provide better quality placements, but there has been little consideration of differential outcomes based on sub-types of kin. Using data from one Ontario, Canada, child protection agency we compared the frequency and stability of placements with maternal versus paternal kin. We found that maternal relatives provided placements much more often than paternal kin and this was most striking with single grandmothers. 90% of genetically related kinship caregivers were grandparents or other equally close kin. Maternal and paternal kin placements had similar durations, but maternal placements ended significantly more frequently by the child returning home or obtaining a permanent placement, whereas paternal placements more often broke down. A Cox proportional hazards analysis, controlling for child sex, age, reason for placement and caregiver attributes, showed that paternal kin placements were more than twice as likely to break down as maternal kin placements, within a given interval. We discuss whether placement stability should be considered a proxy for placement quality and policy implications, and we comment on aspects of assessing prospective placements.
... In the absence of good parental care, kinship care is generally considered a better alternative to being fostered by unrelated foster carers. Children in kinship care are more likely to have better mental health and behavioural outcomes due to the stability of placements and they are also more likely to preserve their identities through family and community ties (5,(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). Despite these indicated benefits, kinship care can also entail some risk (19). ...
The prevalence and characteristics of children growing up with relatives in the UK ( Briefing paper 1: The characteristics of children growing up with relatives in England: Part 1)
... A second, more exploratory study focused on certified and uncertified (a State specific variation on licensing) in Colorado. Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, and Valentine (2008) report that children associated with uncertified kin placements experienced fewer placements and although less likely to achieve reunification, were more likely to move to guardianship as compared with similar (i.e., matched) children associated in certified foster homes. The purpose of the current paper is to build on the Illinois and Colorado studies and advance the knowledge base by focusing attention on family reunification as the outcome of interest. ...
The concept of foster care has been widely studied in child welfare. The literature is well developed with regard to the risk of initial placement, length of stay in care, placement stability, exits to permanency, and emancipation. Yet, the literature is woefully underdeveloped when it comes to understanding if variations in the types and characteristics of foster homes impact important child welfare outcomes. The current study utilizes entry cohorts pulled from statewide administrative data (N = 17,960) to investigate the association between types of foster care and the probability of reunification. We focus specifically on the licensing status of foster homes. Reflecting federal benchmarks, we examined the odds of reunification at one- and two-year intervals. Propensity score analysis was used to reduce selection bias. Adjusted logistic regression models revealed that youth placed in licensed relative care (LRC) homes were the least likely to achieve reunification compared with youth placed in licensed non-relative care (LNC) homes and unlicensed relative care (URC) homes. Conversely, youth placed in URC homes were more likely to achieve reunification as compared with youth placed in LRC and LNC homes. These findings will help states to efficiently target scarce resources to specific types of foster homes that may be impacting federal reunification benchmarks.
... Kinship foster care refers to the care of children who were placed in foster care with a relative caregiver serving as the foster parent, generally because of abuse, neglect, abandonment, or voluntary surrender of the children by the parents. Some studies comparing outcomes between foster care and kinship care show better results for children in kinship care (Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008). Children in kinship foster care had significantly fewer placements than did children in foster care, and they were less likely to still be in care, have a new allegation of institutional abuse or neglect, be involved with the juvenile justice system, and achieve reunification. ...
... Thus, kinship care would be a very promising direction of future Chinese child protection policy. Research in the USA indicates that children in kinship care have significantly fewer placement changes and better outcomes in child's safety and well-being (Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008). However, research has also demonstrated that children in kinship care receive fewer services than those in non-kinship foster care (Ehrle & Geen, 2002), which reminds China to provide services to extended families if they become alternative caregivers. ...
A recent study estimated that over one-fourth of Chinese children have suffered maltreatment (Fang et al., 2015). However, the current child welfare policy in China is limited to orphans, abandoned children, and children with disabilities. Also, there is very little comparative research in China on Chinese and other countries’ child welfare systems. The purpose of this study was to analyze applicable US and Chinese child welfare policies, identify gaps in Chinese policy regarding child maltreatment, and make recommendations for a policy agenda for improving child welfare in China based on cultural values and existing policy structures. Results show that China has considerable capacity to make improvements in child protective services, foster care, and adoption policies. Based on the results of this study, several implications are provided to develop China's child maltreatment policy to increase children's outcomes of well-being, safety, and permanency. Key Practitioner Message: • To understand the background and system of current Chinese child maltreatment policy; • To review US child maltreatment policy and its implementation to identify gaps in the Chinese child maltreatment system; • To provide policy suggestions to develop Chinese child maltreatment policy and provide recommendations for social work education and practice in China.
... The result with the Indigenous group could be due to a "positive discrimination" effect, where those people distributing materials tried to ensure that people identified as Indigenous would definitely receive the relevant documentation 35 . Possibly those in the Kinship Care group, living within a family network in arguably a more stable placement (Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008), were more able to be contacted and therefore could receive information from a variety of sources. 35 Post hoc analyses indicated that the Indigenous respondents (73%) were significantly more likely to have received the "What's the Plan?" Information Pack than the other groups (Australian -Other: 56.2%; ...
... The way a kinship arrangement is categorized is particularly important because evidence from research studies in the UK and USA suggests that kinship carers are often older, less well educated, in poorer health and have lower incomes than unrelated foster carers (Broad 2001;Flynn 2002;Cuddeback 2004). Research in the UK (Farmer 2009) and USA (Winokur et al. 2008) has shown that children in kinship foster care have more stable placements and do at least as well (and some do better) on various developmental outcomes than children in non-relative foster care. It has also been found that these outcomes are achieved despite kinship foster carers receiving less support and fewer services than non-relative carers (Carpenter et al. 2004;Cuddeback 2004;Farmer & Moyers 2008). ...
Until recently, little was known about kinship care in the UK. Research has begun to illuminate the circumstances which lead to children being cared for by relatives, and the stresses and strains experienced by carers. However, most UK research has only considered ‘looked-after’ children placed with formal approved kinship foster carers, although this group forms the smallest proportion of children in kinship arrangements. In this paper, we use microdata from the 2001 UK Population Census to examine the characteristics of kinship carers and children, and demonstrate that most children in kinship care are growing up in informal unregulated arrangements. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.
... We know from studies from Norway (NOU: 23,2004), Sweden (Statens offentliga Utredningar, 2011) and the UK (Waterhouse, Clough, & Le Fleming, 2000) that abuse and neglect of children in state custody occur. Findings from studies of maltreatment in foster care show that children in nonkinship foster care were more likely than children in kinship foster care to experience maltreatment (Benedict, Zuravin, Somerfield, & Brandt, 1996;Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008;Zuravin, Benedict, & Somerfield, 1993). There might also be situations other than maltreatment in which a change in placement represents an improvement of care. ...
The purpose of this study was to explore factors related to placement disruption in long-term kinship and nonkinship foster care in a Nordic country.The study included 136 children aged 4–13 years in kinship and nonkinship foster care in Norway in the year 2000, with updates for the year 2008. Placement and demographic information and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were collected from foster parents and youths. Generalized linear mixed model analysis was undertaken. A thorough literature review was done in order to study association between disruption and relevant variables.None of the predominant variables from previous literature were significantly associated with disruption for this sample of children in long-term foster care.Since long-term stable foster care (rather than adoption) is the preferred option in Nordic as well as some other European countries, there is a need to explore the processes of inclusion that give children a lifelong commitment to their foster families.
... One challenge in interpreting existing research on kinship care is the selection bias inherent in children's placements into kinship or nonkinship care. At a basic level, placing children into kinship care or foster care depends on the availability and accessibility of each type of placement (Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008). Additionally, kinship care may be more culturally aligned with some traditions than with others, for example when familism is a strong influence. ...
The purpose of this systematic review is to compare the associations of kinship care and non-kinship care with children's mental health and to examine the factors associated with children's mental health in kinship care and non-kinship foster care. A comprehensive search was conducted in nine databases, and 237 articles were identified yielding eight studies that met criteria. Study designs, sample characteristics, methodologies, and results were collected and entered into data matrices and data was analyzed narratively. This review found that children in kinship care exhibited better mental health outcomes than children in non-kinship care in the univariate and bivariate comparisons. However, the associations between kinship care and children's mental health in regression models were mixed across studies. The associations depended on research designs (cross-sectional or prospective longitudinal design) and whether statistical models addressed selection bias and controlled for confounders. This review also identified that child maltreatment related factors, placement related factors, child level factors, foster caregiver level factors, foster family environmental level factors, and neighborhood level factors were associated with foster children's mental health. Some implications for practice and research were discussed.
... They postulate abject poverty and associated social disorganization experienced disproportionately by African Americans and American Indians/Aboriginal peoples are risk factors for maltreatment and subsequent child welfare services involvement. Interestingly, whites who are in similar circumstances may be more likely to be endangered by physical abuse and to be reported than African Americans ), but the sheer rate at which African Americans live in these conditions results in overall disproportionate representation in reporting tend to be longer than other placement types (Chipungu, Everett, Verduik & Jones, 1998); there is a suggestion in some studies (Goerge, Wulczyn & Harden, 1995) that their stay in kinship care placements tend to be longer than other placement types, but the findings are not always consistent (Chipungu, Everett, Verduik & Jones, 1998;Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi & Valentine, 2008 . To illustrate, qualitative analyses in one recent study revealed law enforcement officers were responsible for placing a higher proportion of African American children as a result of law enforcement involvement with families. ...
Cette recherche qualitative vise une description du contenu des signalements retenus à la protection de la jeunesse ainsi que de leur évaluation à partir des dossiers de 48 situations d’enfants issus de la diversité ethnoculturelle. Ces dossiers ont été sélectionnés par 24 intervenants de la protection de la jeunesse. Les résultats sont organisés selon des thèmes qui suivent de près les critères légaux considérés dans la prise de décision. Un deuxième niveau d’analyse permet de faire ressortir les contenus ethnoculturels ou migratoires dispersés dans les sections narratives et descriptives des dossiers. Par la suite, chaque situation est observée et décrite afin de regrouper des profils familiaux similaires. De cet exercice ressortent quatre portraits familiaux distincts : les familles traversant une crise, les familles qui abdiquent leur rôle parental, les familles isolées et les familles éclatées.
... This finding is comparable to previous literature comparing the stability of placements using survival analysis (Rosenthal & Villegas, 2011). Children in kinship care had significantly fewer placements (1.6 placements) than children in nonrelative foster care (2.3 placements) (Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008). Kinship care homes provide children a placement with a potential caregiver already familiar with the children's needs. ...
Background
A significant proportion of children placed in out of-home care experience placement disruptions in the United States. Placement instability has deleterious effects on children’s well-being.
Objectives
(a) To measure the time-to-initial placement change in different types of settings, including non-relative foster homes, kinship care, residential treatment centers (RTC), group homes and other types of settings; and (b) To identify predictors of the initial placement change.
Participants and setting
Data were obtained from the State Automated Child Welfare Information System operated by the child welfare agency in a Mid-Atlantic state. The sample included 4177 children who entered into the foster care and were followed over three years.
Method
Descriptive, bivariate, and survival Cox regression models were conducted.
Results
More than half (53%) of the children had experienced placement change within 3 years. The mean length for an initial change in placement was longer for children in RTC and kinship care compared to children in foster and group homes, and other placements (χ2 = 322.31, p < 0.001). Several factors significantly increased the likelihood of an initial change, including: older children (p < 0.001, HR = 1.01), children with behavioral problems (p < 0.001, HR = 1.26), parental substance abuse (p < 0.05, HR = 1.12), and cases in which the parents voluntarily gave up their parental rights (p < 0.05, HR = 1.12). The type of placement also increased the risk for placement change.
Conclusions
Providing early interventions and services to these children and their families is essential to increase placement stability.
... Kinship care is currently, in Quebec and elsewhere, a trend partly attributable to the greater stability such placements represent [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Aside from stability, social, economic and political factors have stimulated the growing interest in kinship care: policies that emphasize keeping families together and approaches that focus on their strengths; overloaded official foster care systems; the need to preserve the cultural heritage, identity, and sense of belonging of children in care and; political philosophies that aim to lower the cost of public services [21]. ...
Objectives: The Quebec Youth Protection Act was amended in 2007. The main goal of this reform was to improve placement stability for children who are removed from their home for their protection. Among several legal provisions introduced was the establishment of maximum age-specific durations of out-of-home care, after which a plan must be established to provide stability for children placed in substitute care by finding permanent homes for them. The purpose of this study is (1) to examine trends in placement use and placement stability since the reform and (2) to document the current frequency of each type of placement setting, the cumulative time in care before the exit to permanency, and the sustainability of the permanency outcome. Methods: The study relies on 3 entry cohorts of all children investigated who received protection measures in the province of Quebec during 3 specific time frames before and after the reform (n = 9620, 8676, 8425). Cohorts were observed for a period varying from 3 to 4 years. Administrative data from all 16 child protection agencies were used to track placement trajectory indicators and to compare cohorts. Results: There has been a decrease in the proportion of children receiving protection measures who were placed in care since the reform, and placement in kinship care has become more frequent among children placed. Placement stability improved slightly after the reform. Overall, for infants, the most frequent type of permanency attained is adoption, while reunification is the option most often indicated for older children. Some children are at a greater risk of experiencing unstable placement trajectories: young children have a high rate of reunification breakdown, some wait a long time to be adopted, and adolescents are frequently removed from the substitute care setting where they were supposed to stay until the age of 18. Conclusions: The results suggest interesting avenues for policy makers and service providers to improve the stability of placement trajectories. Advantages and disadvantages of administrative data are discussed.
... Both longer (Chow et al. 2014;Farmer et al. 2017) and shorter (Hoagwood and Cunningham 1992;Pfeiffer and Strzelecki 1990) lengths of stay in TRC have been identified as supports for positive outcomes. However, other studies indicate that length of stay in TRC has no significant impact on treatment outcomes (Loughran et al. 2009;Winokur et al. 2008). Identifying factors that moderate length of stay in treatment is an important step in determining differential treatment modes for youth with CT. ...
Complex trauma (CT) is the experience, or witness, of prolonged abuse or neglect that negatively affects children’s emotional and psychological health. Youth in residential care experience higher incidences of complex trauma than youth in community-based care, with notable gender differences and presentation of psychological symptoms. This study examined the effects of trauma-informed residential care and the relation between CT and gender. A sample (n = 206) from an evaluation of a youth psychiatric residential facility in the Midwest that transitioned from a traditional care model to a trauma-informed care model was used. A hierarchical regression was used to model the main effects of model of care, gender, CT, length of stay, and crisis response on treatment outcomes; and the moderating effects of gender and CT. The results support the high prevalence of CT in residential care populations. The final model explained 30.2% of the variance with a statistically significant interaction between gender and length of stay in treatment, indicating that longer lengths of stay in treatment are associated with less change in functional impairment for girls than boys. Youth gender and prior trauma are important factors to consider when monitoring experiences and treatment outcomes in youth residential care.
... Regarding relation to the child, a rigorous matched comparison study compared outcomes for children placed in kinship care versus foster care homes. After controlling for demographic and placement characteristics, children in kinship care had significantly fewer placements and were more likely to achieve reunification with parents than did children in foster care (Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, & Valentine, 2008). Another study in Sweden (Vinnerljung, Sallnäs, & Berlin, 2017) found that when either the child or the foster parents expressed dissatisfaction with the placement repeatedly over time, these pairings ended with a placement breakdown in 60% of cases. ...
This research examined the impact of individual and relational characteristics of foster parents on permanency outcomes for children in care. Previous research has focused on child and case characteristics. The sample consisted of 233 foster parents from the public child welfare system surveyed at the end of a training. The results of the surveys showed that couple relationship quality and altruism were predictive of reunification of foster children with biological parent. The significant predictors of placement in a residential facility were age, education, and avoidant attachment style of the foster parent. Practice and policy implications are discussed.
This exploratory study aims to develop an understanding of caseworker views on the challenges and opportunities of kinship care. This sample includes protection and kinship service caseworkers who service families in Ontario. Focus groups with a self-selected sample of 27 caseworkers explored the current attitudes of ongoing caseworkers toward kinship caregivers and the policies that mandate their exploration. Results indicated that workers are embracing the idea of kinship care; however they note several limitations and frustrations with the practice. Lack of resources and services for kinship caregivers, issues of conflict and difficulty in monitoring kinship homes hinder positive attitudes about this practice. Further, workers felt that the current legislation encourages the approval of kinship homes that are viewed as substandard and unsafe for children.
Keeping children safe in out-of-home care requires an understanding of the contexts under which maltreatment occurs. This study examines how maltreatment investigations differ across four settings (nonrelative foster, informal kinship, formal kinship, and congregate care). I focus on four elements of maltreatment: the perpetrator's role (e.g., out-of-home caregiver and peer), maltreatment type, probability of substantiation, and victim characteristics. I use statewide Wisconsin administrative data in years 2005-2012, which has an analytic sample of over 96,000 placements. Data are analyzed using descriptive statistics and multi-level logistic regression. Alleged maltreatment is not uncommon in out-of-home care-the total investigation rate ranged from 5% (congregate care) to 15% (informal kinship care). Four percent of all placements were investigated for maltreatment by an out-of-home caregiver, of which 9% were substantiated. Maltreatment by peers (siblings or other foster children) was investigated in 1% of all placements, of which 20% were substantiated. Neglect was the most commonly alleged maltreatment type in informal kinship care, whereas physical abuse was most commonly alleged in all other placement types. Children who were female, Black, or between ages 6 and 10 experienced heightened risk of maltreatment in out-of-home care.
© The Author(s) 2015.
The media coverage of foster care in Australia is replete with adoration for foster carers who look after disadvantaged and difficult children and youth. As this article is being written, New South Wales is holding a ‘foster care week’ with enhanced media coverage and praise for foster carers, the recruitment of new foster carers and acclaim for the ‘foster carer of the year’. Yet, there is another side to foster care that offers less than ideal circumstances for children in care. There is the worrying issue of multiple placements, the problem with children and young people running away from foster care before they reach the legal age for discharge, and evidence of increased incidence of poor educational attainment and involvement in juvenile offending for young people in foster care. In addition, there are cases of foster children being abused by foster carers. As adults, former foster-care children and youth are over-represented among the homeless, in adult correction centres, the unemployed and the users of mental health services. This article documents these negative outcomes of entering the foster-care system, and asks whether family (or non-relative) foster care can survive this evidence. For too many children and young people, family foster care may not provide better outcomes than less-than-optimal parental care from which the children were removed. An alternative is to reduce the use of family foster care and increase intensive support and parenting education services for birth parents who have limited parenting capacity. The aim should be to limit the number of children being taken into care.
This study uses a national sample of 1,215 children, ages 6–17, who spent some time in formal kinship or nonrelative foster care to identify the effect of placement type on academic achievement, behavior, and health. Several identification strategies are used to reduce selection bias, including ordinary least squares, change score models, propensity score weighting, and instrumental variables regression. The results consistently estimate a negative effect of kin placements on reading scores, but kin placements appear to have no effect on child health, and findings on children's math and cognitive skills test scores and behavioral problems are mixed. Estimated declines in both academic achievement and behavioral problems are concentrated among children who are lower functioning at baseline.
More than 2.7 million children are being raised by grandparents and other relatives (kinship care) across the United States because their parents are unable, for a variety of reasons, to care for them. Caregivers face a number of physical and socioeconomic challenges and their access to services to address these problems is limited. Many states and social service agencies are exploring and struggling with policies and approaches to serve kinship families, especially those uninvolved with formal child welfare systems. This article describes the outcome of a study completed on behalf of a public welfare serving agency in a small southern state charged with determining how to best serve kinship families, given the State's existing resources and congruent with best-practice models. The final recommendation to the State resulted in a three-phase program with a 5-year implementation strategy. Benefits to this discussion include an illumination of the process and critical factors to explore for program and policy developments that are generalizable to other states and systems working with informal kinship families.
This article reports on a study of Children's Court files relating to completed applications for variation of care orders (section 90 applications) in three specialised Children's Courts in New South Wales. All files that could be located for completed applications were reviewed and nonidentifying data was recorded. The study attempted to examine the type of applications, the characteristics of applicants and the outcomes of the applications. One hundred and seventeen applications were reviewed: almost half of these were made by the then Department of Community Services (DoCS), and about the same proportion of applications were made by parents. After the section 90 applications were determined there was an increase in care orders allocating parental responsibility to the Minister for Community Services with 73% of the children placed under the care of the minister to age 18.
This article examines the evidence on maltreatment in foster care, drawing on a critical review of research published in the USA, the UK and Australia. Few studies have reported on the extent of maltreatment in this setting and the evidence that does exist is inconclusive. The limited available evidence suggests that maltreatment may be reported for up to two per cent of children in foster care in any one year, but much depends on the definitions used and on local variation in thresholds for investigation. The article discusses the perpetrators and nature of this maltreatment and problems with substantiation, and highlights important gaps in the existing research. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages:It is important to distinguish allegations of maltreatment from those concerning poor standards of care. However, the boundary between the two may sometimes be unclear.Poor assessment and supervision of foster carers may increase the risk of maltreatment.Precipitate responses to allegations of poor standards of care, without a proper assessment of the balance of risks, may themselves be harmful to children's emotional wellbeing.‘It is important to distinguish allegations of maltreatment from those concerning poor standards of care’
Although UK law and policy favour family and friends care, the number of children placed in kinship care remains low compared to other countries such as the USA and Australia, and there is professional uncertainty as to whether children may be better placed there. This review compares outcomes for looked after children placed in kin and non-kin care and finds stability is achieved more commonly through placement with kin. However, the inherent familiarity of kinship placements can undermine aspects of care quality. Children are more likely to experience problematic parental contact and problems within a child’s immediate family may exist in the child’s wider network. Despite such adversities, emotional and behavioural outcomes are as favourable, or more favourable. The review concludes that although poor quality kin placements do have adverse effects on children’s emotional and behavioural development, stability is a protective factor. Two areas for the development of professional practice are highlighted. Firstly, the need for professionals to provide better support to children and kin carers. Secondly, the need to end inadequate kin placements, sometimes against a child’s wishes, should be better recognised: in some cases children’s needs have been undermined when social workers have allowed inadequate placements to continue.
This secondary analysis involved exclusively parents with children placed in kinship care by a child welfare agency. It examined associations between parents’ receipt of needed services and 6 sets of variables measuring parents’ needs, access to service providers, social structural factors, demographic factors, family resources, and child welfare interventions experienced. The sample of 731 parents was extracted from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II. Data were analyzed using generalized least squares random-effects modeling. Analysis showed an association in positive direction between the percentage of needed services parents received and 4 measures: Medicaid coverage, education, case plan’s specification of needed services, and racial/ethnic homogeneity of parent and child welfare caseworker. Association in negative direction was observed between the outcome and unavailability of services, difficulty accessing services, refusal of services, caseworker engagement perceived by parent, and physical maltreatment. Implications of results include the necessity that caseworkers list in case plans the accurately identified needs of parents for services, along with mandates for those services. Implications also include need for adequate training in building caseworker–parent working alliance and need for sustained focus on reunification.
Strengthening the connection between research, policy, and practice is imperative if we wish to improve life chances for children in care. The number of children in care is significant, and growing. In the first edition of this book, Thériault (2003) reported that there were over 60,000 Canadian children in care in 2000, and that this constituted an increase of about 30% in the previous three years (Human Resources Development Canada, 2000). Farris-Manning and Zandstra (2003) estimated that there were 76,000 children in care in Canada by 2002, and this number has grown since that time.
In 2014, an article written by Dr Frank Ainsworth and Patricia Hansen was published in Children Australia entitled ‘Family foster care: Can it survive the evidence?’ The basic premise of the article was that evidence indicates family foster care either doesn't change the likelihood of positive outcomes for children, or makes it more difficult for positive outcomes to be achieved. Essentially, the view was that foster care is a risk to children in much the same way as there is a risk for children remaining at home with abusive or neglectful parents. As such, the authors stated that there should be a reduction in the use of family foster care, and increased efforts to keep children at home with supports. This article only came to our attention recently, and we had some issues with the conclusions that were drawn by the authors, particularly in terms of the evidence that is used to support their proposition. We were kindly offered an opportunity by the journal editors to submit this responding article.
Kinship caregivers are relatives or close friends who assume caregiving responsibilities due to a variety of unexpected (and sometimes traumatic) circumstances. While many kinship care arrangements happen outside the child welfare system, kinship care also forms an increasing percentage of all child welfare placements and is distinct from traditional non-relative foster parenting. Kinship placements can promote family and cultural continuity and better outcomes for children. However, they also present unique dynamics and stressors, and could significantly benefit from a specific array of social supports and economic resources. This study describes how a partnership-based research project by the state child welfare agency and university partners informed the development of a model for Oregon's Kinship Navigator Program. Researchers gathered statewide input from a diverse array of caregivers, youth in care, and kinship caregiver advocates. Focus groups and key informant interviews were conducted to identify the gaps and needs of Oregon's kinship caregivers. Eleven emergent themes were identified. Recommendations are provided for integrating themes into kinship navigator programs.
Kinship foster care placements have become significantly more prevalent in both Canada and the United States. However, there are limited resources for child protection services (CPS) workers to assess the quality of the kinship caregiver placements. Although several measures exist to screen caregivers for general foster care, there are no instruments available for the assessment of quality in kinship foster care. Thus, the current study reexamined a kinship caregiver assessment using data from a study conducted at the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC). Inter-item and item-scale reliability coefficients were calculated for caregiver responses (N = 37) using Cronbach’s alpha and ordinal alpha through polychoric correlation matrices. Analyses revealed five distinct scales with good internal consistency (ordinal α > .75), suggesting a useful assessment tool. With the continuing shift to increased kinship placements, it is important that CPS workers have access to validated measures for this placement setting. Findings provide an innovative kinship caregiver measure to be used in the field of child welfare, and support further research in this area.
Background: Kinship foster caregivers often face serious challenges but lack adequate parenting capacities and resources. The importance of parenting interventions for kinship foster caregivers has been well recognized, and researchers have assessed the effect of various parenting interventions on the caregivers and children. However, no systematic review study has been conducted to summarize findings from parenting interventions targeting kinship foster care.
Objectives: This study aims to systematically summarize the effect of parenting interventions on kinship foster caregivers and the cared children, and to synthesize the intervention strategies and research methods used in the evaluation, which provides a context to better understand the intervention effect. Methods: Twenty-eight studies were identified from six academic databases for review. A data template was used to extract information of intervention targets, forms/settings, contents, lengths, and research methods from each study.
Results: Various parenting interventions targeting kinship foster care families have been developed to improve parenting capacities and reduce parental stress. Most of the interventions had a positive impact on the outcomes of both caregivers and children, although the assessed outcomes often differed across studies. Parenting interventions are beneficial to caregivers’ parenting competency improvement, parental stress reduction, and child wellbeing advancement. However, some interventions may be less promising in achieving targeted goals.
Discussion: This review provides meaningful information about the development of evidence-based parenting intervention for kinship caregivers. The findings suggest that promoting evidence-based parenting interventions with a special focus on kinship care is important in child welfare practices.
Public health law developed over centuries in a fashion distinct from historic child protection law. Public health law, with its focus on the health and safety of whole populations and lesser attention to individual rights and liberties, has been a core element in the development and practice of modern public health. Public health law reflects public health itself through its focus on science and evidence-based policies, support for the utilization of both population-based intervention and prevention, but also its endorsement of limited use of targeted campaigns and clinical interventions directed at specifically identified individuals that have taken place from the local to a global scale. Individual rights have become more prominent in many countries over the past few centuries, for example during the advent of HIV. Nevertheless, more than many other governmental activities, public health policy and practice are science-based and the legitimacy and power of public health laws rest primarily on their support by science. Along with a foundation of science, public health practitioners have inherited and practiced the medical ethos of reviewing their regulations and activities to determine effects, identify possible errors, and embed accountability for all of their efforts through continuing self-examination, and utilization of recent biological, chemical, environmental and behavioral research. Finally, law itself is not only a means of articulating public health powers and limitations, but the effects of laws can be an important variable to research and consider when efforts are made to advance the public’s health. A related question is the extent to which the training of lawyers enhances or detracts from their ability to advance public health by understanding and endorsing public health science versus attacking its science by using legal tactics.
In this paper we present the results from a Youth Lead Project on the voices and participation of children in state care in Ontario Canada. The purpose of this project was for youth to share their voice around what they wish child protection workers and agencies could do to improve their experiences within the child protection system. Many youth in care in Canada and internationally report that their voices are not heard and that they are not involved in decisions involving their care. Seven themes were extracted from this voices of youth project asking child welfare workers and agencies to: Listen to [them] and believe [them]; Keep [them] informed and be honest; Involve [them] in decisions; Support [them]; Keep [them] connected; Ignite [their] passions and don't give up on [them]. Suggestions from the youth, involved in this project, are offered on ways to create true and meaningful change in child welfare.
Foster parent retention is an important, yet often overlooked, component to long term outcomes for children in the foster care system. A recent pilot study examining the perspectives of four Arkansas foster care caseworkers found that, much like the rest of the country, Arkansas experiences high foster parent attrition. This current study explores the perceived effectiveness among sixteen foster parents of the Foster Parent Support Act of 2007 for improving retention in Arkansas. It was discovered that Arkansas foster parents were largely unaware of the act and reported insufficient support, voice and information in the child welfare process. Foster care, Child welfare policy, Foster parent retention. Among the myriad of issues facing American child welfare professionals, foster parents retention has become a growing concern in the past 20 years. High turnover and insufficient recruitment has a led to a shrinking and largely inexperienced pool of foster parents. Many agencies report foster parent turnover between 30 and 50 percent per year (Christian, 2002). Caseworkers in Arkansas report similar concerns (Hamilton, 2011). Unfortunately, because there is no national database of foster parents, it is impossible to track the full extent of the problem (Unknown, 2008). Christian (2002) explains that insufficient numbers of qualified (trained and state certified) foster parents increases the likelihood of inappropriate placements, disruptions and placement in expensive institutional settings. The following study analyzes Arkansas' legislative effort to improve foster parent retention. First, however, the theoretical importance of foster care stability must be established. John Bowlby's (1988) theory of attachment, established in the mid-twentieth century, helps to support the connection between child well-being and foster care. A British child psychiatrist, 377
When children are placed into foster care the caseworker must give preference to an adult
relative, many of whom are grandparents, over an unrelated caregiver. This kinship preference is
based in evolutionary biology, which suggests that the imperative to care for a child should be
greater for kin versus non-kin. However, not all kin are related to a child in the same way, and
level of paternity uncertainty may influence level of care provided. For instance, maternal
grandparents can be assured that they share genetic material with their grandchild, while
paternal grandparents may not have the same level of certainty. Owing to the possibility of
paternity uncertainty, we hypothesize that out-of-home placements with paternal grandparents
will be at a greater risk of subsequent investigations than placements with maternal grandparents
or with foster parents. We secured data on placements n=560 of children ages 1.5 to 17
following a maltreatment investigation from a merger of the National Survey of Child and
Adolescent Well-Being NSCAW II and the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System
NCANDS. Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox regression were used to examine the difference in
time to the first new investigation by type of out-of-home placement while controlling for
covariates. Consistent with our hypothesis, placements with paternal grandparents were at a
higher risk of a subsequent investigations than placements with maternal grandparents or nonkin
foster parents. Results suggest a need for further considerations of child safety in foster care
based on genetic relatedness of caregivers.
When a child must be removed from the family home, placement with a relative is often sought because kinship care is the least restrictive and most family-like out-of-home placement. Although kinship care has become a preferred option in most U.S. child welfare systems, this preference is often based on "soft evidence" rather than rigorous evaluation of the risks and benefits of kinship care. Therefore, an evaluation of the impact of kinship care on child behavioral problems is needed to guide child welfare practice and policy. In addition, given that children of different ages and in different developmental stages are likely to have varying placement experiences, the evaluation of kinship care should explore the effect of kinship care on child behavioral problems across age groups. To fill these knowledge gaps, we compare the behavioral problems of 584 children in kinship care with those of 470 children in non-kinship care. Moreover, we examine the impact of kinship care on behavioral problems in 2 age groups: younger children (0 to 5. years) and older children (6 to 17.5. years). The analysis uses data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing, and applies propensity score methods to account for selection bias. Results show that older children in kinship care had significant lower levels of externalizing, internalizing, and total behavior problems. However, for younger children, the effects of kinship care on child behavioral problems did not reach statistical significance. The implications for practice, research and policy are discussed.
La France et le Quebec ont une longue histoire d’interet reciproque pour leurs facons d’aborder la protection de l’enfance. D’abord axe sur les politiques, cet interet s’est ensuite deplace sur les dispositifs et les pratiques developpes pour repondre aux besoins des jeunes et de leurs familles. Ce texte s’inscrit en continuite avec cet interet en s’attardant a la place accordee a l’evaluation des pratiques dans chaque contexte. Il presente les resultats d’une demarche de recherche collaborative et comparee sur le deploiement de l’evaluation des pratiques (programmes, activites, services) dans le secteur de la protection de l’enfance en France et au Quebec.
Until recently, Flemish family foster care was a temporary measure with as its most important goal, the reunification of the foster child with the birth parents. To date, nothing is known on the number of reunifications, nor has any study been undertaken into the factors (child, parent, foster parent and foster care process) associated with reunification. Case files of 127 foster children who exited foster care in 2007 were analysed. Dependent variables were type of foster care placement outcome (reunification, successful placement without reunification or breakdown) and place of residence after placement ending (with birth parents, extended family, foster family, residential care or living independently). After placement ending, only 40% of foster children went living with their parents, including foster children who were reunified (26%) and foster children who moved to their parents after a placement breakdown (14%). Characteristics of the foster children, and in particular absence of problem behaviour, were associated mainly with a return home. This may indicate that too much attention is paid to the functioning of the foster child and too little to improving the competencies of the parents and the (future) home environment.
Objective:Children in out-of-home placements typically display more educational, behavioral, and psychological problems than do their peers. This systematic review evaluated the effect of kinship care placement compared to foster care placement on the safety, permanency, and well-being of children removed from the home for maltreatment.Methods:Review authors independently read titles and abstracts identified in the searches, selected appropriate studies, assessed the eligibility of each study, evaluated the methodological quality, and extracted outcome data for meta-analysis.Results:Outcome data from the 102 included quasi-experimental studies suggest that, as compared to children in foster care, children in kinship care experience fewer behavioral problems and mental health disorders, better well-being, less placement disruption, fewer mental health services, and similar reunification rates.Conclusions:This review supports the practice of treating kinship care as a viable out-of-home placement option. Th...
Cette etude propose un premier portrait representatif des enfants places aupres d’une personne significative (PS) au Quebec apres l’entree en vigueur de nouvelles dispositions legislatives en protection de la jeunesse, ainsi que certaines modalites de leur placement. Tous les enfants evalues en protection de la jeunesse en 2007-2008 et places aupres de PS (n = 941) ou en famille d’accueil (FA) (n = 1 586) avant novembre 2009 sont inclus dans l’etude. Les resultats suggerent que les enfants confies a des PS presentent moins de vulnerabilites que les enfants places en FA. Ils montrent egalement que le placement aupres de PS est utilise en debut de processus et que l’enfant est retourne chez lui pour l’etape de la prise en charge dans 38 % des cas. Ces resultats sont analyses a la lumiere des connaissances actuelles sur ce type de placement dans d’autres pays, et des pistes de reflexion sont degagees pour ameliorer cette pratique de plus en plus frequente en protection de la jeunesse.
This Campbell systematic review examines whether kinship care is more effective than foster care in ensuring the safety, permanency and wellbeing of children removed from their home for maltreatment. The review summarizes findings from 102 studies involving 666,615 children. 71 of these studies were included in meta‐analyses.
Kinship care is a viable option for the children that need to be removed from the home for maltreatment. However, policy issues remain to balance the cost‐effectiveness of kinship care with a possible need for increased levels of caseworker involvement and service delivery. A considerable number of the included studies showed weaknesses in their methodologies and designs. There is a need to conduct more high quality quantitative studies of the effects of kinship care based on robust longitudinal designs and psychometrically sound instruments
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Every year a large number of children around the world are removed from their homes because they are maltreated. Child welfare agencies are responsible for placing these children in out‐of‐home settings that will facilitate their safety, permanency, and well‐being. However, children in out‐of‐home placements typically display more educational, behavioural, and psychological problems than do their peers, although it is unclear whether this results from the placement itself, the maltreatment that precipitated it, or inadequacies in the child welfare system.
OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the effect of kinship care placement compared to foster care placement on the safety, permanency, and well‐being of children removed from the home for maltreatment.
SEARCH METHODS
We searched the following databases for this updated review on 14 March 2011: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Sociological Abstracts, Social Science Citation Index, ERIC, Conference Proceedings Citation Index‐Social Science and Humanities, ASSIA, and Dissertation Express. We handsearched relevant social work journals and reference lists of published literature reviews, and contacted authors.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Controlled experimental and quasi‐experimental studies, in which children removed from the home for maltreatment and subsequently placed in kinship foster care were compared with children placed in non‐kinship foster care for child welfare outcomes in the domains of well‐being, permanency, or safety.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently read the titles and abstracts identified in the searches, and selected appropriate studies. Two review authors assessed the eligibility of each study for the evidence base and then evaluated the methodological quality of the included studies. Lastly, we extracted outcome data and entered them into Review Manager 5 software (RevMan) for meta‐analysis with the results presented in written and graphical forms.
RESULTS
One‐hundred‐and‐two quasi‐experimental studies, with 666,615 children are included in this review. The 'Risk of bias' analysis indicates that the evidence base contains studies with unclear risk for selection bias, performance bias, detection bias, reporting bias, and attrition bias, with the highest risk associated with selection bias and the lowest associated with reporting bias. The outcome data suggest that children in kinship foster care experience fewer behavioural problems (standardised mean difference effect size ‐0.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) ‐0.49 to ‐0.17), fewer mental health disorders (odds ratio (OR) 0.51, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.62), better well‐being (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.64), and less placement disruption (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.69) than do children in non‐kinship foster care. For permanency, there was no difference on reunification rates, although children in non‐kinship foster care were more likely to be adopted (OR 2.52, 95% CI 1.42 to 4.49), while children in kinship foster care were more likely to be in guardianship (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.40). Lastly, children in non‐kinship foster care were more likely to utilise mental health services (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.35 to 2.37).
AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
This review supports the practice of treating kinship care as a viable out‐of‐home placement option for children removed from the home for maltreatment. However, this conclusion is tempered by the pronounced methodological and design weaknesses of the included studies.
Research has shown that relative caregivers are less likely to use formal supports and services than non-relative foster parents. However, less is known about factors influencing kinship caregivers' help-seeking behaviors and service use. This systematic review identified research studies examining factors associated with service use among kinship caregivers using key search terms in five computerized bibliographic databases and four journals. The search identified 337 potentially relevant studies. After screening and study eligibility assessments, a final sample of 13 studies was reviewed. Findings suggested that although children and their kinship caregivers were clearly in need of services, service use was low. Results suggested a need for more rigorous research designs and that the following factors may influence service use: child behavioral problems, caregiver mental health status, resources, provider characteristics, caregiver perceived need, and social support. More research examining help-seeking behaviors, perceptions of formal services, and effectiveness of kinship caregiver services in relation to child outcomes is needed to improve the wellbeing of kinship families in the child welfare system.
This paper considers causal inference and sample selection bias in nonexperimental settings in which (i) few units in the nonexperimental comparison group are comparable to the treatment units, and (ii) selecting a subset of comparison units similar to the treatment units is difficult because units must be compared across a high-dimensional set of pretreatment characteristics. We discuss the use of propensity score-matching methods, and implement them using data from the National Supported Work experiment. Following LaLonde (1986), we pair the experimental treated units with nonexperimental comparison units from the CPS and PSID, and compare the estimates of the treatment effect obtained using our methods to the benchmark results from the experiment. For both comparison groups, we show that the methods succeed in focusing attention on the small subset of the comparison units comparable to the treated units and, hence, in alleviating the bias due to systematic differences between the treated and comparison units. © 2001 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technolog
Despite the best efforts of child welfare agencies, community agencies, and individuals, some children are not safe in their homes and must be placed in substitute care settings by child welfare authorities. Increasingly, as this article points out, child welfare agencies are placing children in the homes of their relatives rather than in traditional foster family homes (31% of all children in out-of-home care in the early 1990s were living with kin). This article discusses how such factors as the availability of foster homes, the demand for foster care, attitudes toward the extended families of troubled parents, and policies regarding payment for the costs of care have contributed to the rapid growth in kinship foster care. It discusses differences in the personal characteristics of kin and traditional foster parents and in the supports provided to the caregivers by child welfare agencies. Research findings suggest that kinship homes can promote the child welfare goals of protecting children and supporting families, but they are less likely to facilitate the prompt achievement of legal permanence for children. To forge a coherent policy toward kinship caregivers, officials must balance the natural strengths of informal, private exchanges among family members with the power of government agencies to provide both resources and oversight.
This chapter reviews findings from research that focused on describing and comparing the young adult functioning of former foster care children and a matched group of adults who had not spent time in foster care; and determining whether the functioning of former kinship foster children differs from that of their nonrelative care counterparts. The methodologies used by these studies are assessed in order to provide direction for future research. The main findings are that, in general, former foster children appear to be less self-sufficient than their nonfoster care counterparts; and that former kin foster care children appear to be more self-sufficient than their nonrelative foster care counterparts.
This chapter examines kinship care policy development in Illinois. The policy issues and trends that shaped the use of kinship care as a child welfare service are presented. Future trends that will influence the use of kinship care are discussed.
This article discusses the historical significance of kinship care in preserving the African American family, the development of kinship care and family preservation programs, and the importance of the natural relationship between kinship care and family preservation services. Findings of a survey of states' use of kinship care in the development of plans for the Family Preservation and Support Services Act are presented. Whether child welfare agencies missed an opportunity to plan for kinship care in their family preservation plans is also explored.
This chapter begins with discussions of the meaning of kinship care, demographic trends in kinship care, and permanency planning for kinship care. It then addresses some controversial questions concerning kinship foster care. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.
Formal kinship foster care is the fastest growing type of foster care placement for children under the care and protection of the state. We review the reasons for the growth in formal kinship care and outline policy structures and practices pertinent to kinship care. Next, we draw on empirical kinship care research to examine some controversial issues surrounding kinship care, specifically the potential risks and benefits of kinship care for children and the differences between formal kinship care and non-kin foster care. Finally, we review suggestions made for policy and practice models that could more adequately address the needs of kinship caregivers.
Discusses the results of a survey of 133 child welfare experts on their research priorities for kinship care. Questions were based on the literature, reports, conference presentations, and the author's experience. A Likert scale was used to rate the importance of 17 issues. The average rating of most items was between important and very important and, as such, offered limited assistance in ordering the research priorities. Suggestions for future research are offered for each of the following categories: children, families, services, state policies, experience of professionals and families, practice issues, and training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The use of relatives as foster parents increased substantially in the 1990s and the federal and state governments are struggling to adapt existing foster care policies and practices to reflect the unique circumstances of these placements. We examine the evolution of policies affecting kinship caregivers based on data from a 1999 national survey of state child welfare administrators, a follow-up survey to one conducted in 1997. In 1999, 10 states required kin to meet the same standards as non-kin foster parents to care for children in state custody. The other 41 offer kin at least one other assessment standard that is different than non-kin standards. Of these 41, 25 states provide foster care payments to kin meeting these different standards. We also found that 39 states help place children with kin in some instances without seeking state custody. In addition, we found that at least 16 states made changes to their kinship care policies between the 1997 and 1999, illustrating that kinship care policies are still in flux. Finally, we note that recent federal policy changes that took effect after the survey period will likely have a significant impact on states' licensing and payment of kinship foster parents.
Over the last decade or longer, the number of children in kinship care has increased dramatically. There is evidence that kinship foster families have fewer resources and receive less training, services, and support, as well as concern that kinship families are less qualified to foster than their non-kinship counterparts. However, the kinship literature has methodological limitations and significant gaps that restrict our knowledge. In this context, it is important to synthesize substantive findings and methodological limitations in an attempt to evaluate what we know about kinship family foster care as a child welfare service, and such an evaluation can shape practice, policy, and research. Therefore, this article presents a methodological and substantive synthesis of kinship care research. Suggestions for directing future research are made.
Kin caregivers can provide continuity and connectedness for children who cannot remain with their parents. This is one reason kinship care has become the preferred placement option for foster children. However, despite the growing reliance on kin caregivers, kinship care policies have evolved with little coherent guidance. This article examines kinship care and finds: Kinship foster parents tend to be older and have lower incomes, poorer health, and less education than non-kin foster parents. As a result, kin caregivers face more challenges as foster parents than non-kin caregivers. The links between payment and licensure, and the haphazard evolution of licensing policies and practices, complicate efforts to provide fair compensation for kin caregivers. Kinship caregivers receive less supervision and fewer services than non-kin caregivers, thus kin may not receive the support they need to nurture and protect the children in their care, even though their needs for support may be greater. Kinship foster care questions many traditional notions about family obligation, governmental responsibility, and the nature of permanency for children in care. The article concludes by discussing these concerns, and calls for more thoughtful consideration of the uniqueness of kinship care in developing policies and best practices.
It has been eight years since the Children and Youth Services Review first special issue on kinship care. That issue was prompted by the large increase in kinship care placements that occurred in the mid-to-later 1980s and the developing research base documenting the relatively new and often controversial practice. Eight years later, state child welfare agencies continue to rely significantly on kin to act as foster parents. Moreover, federal and state policies have added legitimacy and support for kinship care placements. However, when and how kin should be used as foster parents remains an issue of immense debate. This volume adds more fuel to the fire, providing much needed research to inform the debate, yet at the same time raising more questions than it answers.
Pergamon Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 16, Nos. l/Z. pp. 1-S. 1994 CopytightB 1994 Ekvier Science Ltd Primed in the USA. All rights reserved $6.00 + .@I Research on Kinship Foster Care: What Do We Know? Where Do We Go From Here? Jill Duerr Bet-rick Richard P. Barth University of California, Berkeley In recent years, kinship care has gained increasing notice from practi- tioners, policy makers and researchers. Our attention has been captivated by the large numbers of children now being served in foster care by kin. The development of kinship care as a foster care resource has been stim- ulated by legal, demographic, and value-based changes. First was the Miller v. Youakim Supreme Court (1979) case which determined that kin could not be excluded from the definition of foster parents and that under some conditions, kin might be eligible for foster care benefits. Second, the burgeoning foster care census and changing economic circumstances that leave far fewer conventional unrelated foster parents at home to care for children have contributed to greater inclusion of kin and fictive kin as fos- ter caregivers (National Commission on Family Foster Care, 1991). Third, kinship care’s development has been spurred on by a refocussing of values and priorities regarding the role of family--broadly defined--in the lives of children. Kinship foster care has developed at a time when calls for family preservation have grown increasingly urgent (National Commission on Children, 1993). Many child welfare experts believe that children will be better served if their care is provided by family members within the community of origin, rather than strangers (Chipungu, 199 1). Research in the area of kinship care has not kept pace with its development as a placement alternative. Until recently, few studies were available that focused on the characteristics of kinship providers or on the children in their care. Neither were studies available which addressed the services provided to kin through the child welfare system, or about the providers’ views of their roles within this system. Researchers are finally embracing this issue. In the meantime, kinship care is becoming the pre- dominant form of out-of-home care in several large states (Barth, Court- ney, Bet-rick, & Albert, 1994; Wulczyn & Goerge, 1992).
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