Kinship Care

What is kinship care?

Kinship care is taking care of a child by a relative.

"Relative" means an adult who is related to the child by blood, adoption or relationship within the fifth degree of kinship, including step-parents, stepsiblings and all relatives whose status is proceeded by the words "great," "great-great," or "grand," or the spouse of any of these persons, even if the marriage was terminated by death or dissolution.

In most states, if a biological parent has a child removed from their home then relatives are often given preferential consideration for the placement of the child.

If, however, a biological parent wishes to place a child for adoption then relatives do not have any rights. In voluntary adoption, the biological parents have the right to select who they want to adopt their child.

What are the laws regarding kinship care?

When a child is placed in foster care by a county social worker, most courts give preferential consideration to certain relatives (grandparent, aunt, uncle or sibling). Again, it should be noted that this above procedure is not accurate for voluntary adoptions. Relatives are only considered in voluntary adoptions if the biological parents choose to consider them.

A relative's home may be exempt from foster home licensure, but must be assessed by standards equivalent to licensure and approved by a county social worker.

For a relative providing long-term foster care, the court may authorize the relative to provide legal consent for the child's medical, surgical, dental care and education. Social workers and courts must consider specific factors when assessing a relative to decide whether or not to place a child with a relative.

The following is the Secretary's Report to Congress regarding kinship care.

The Extent to Which Children in Foster Care Are Placed with Relatives:

In 1998, approximately 2.13 million children in the United States, or just less than 3 percent, were living in some type of kinship care arrangement.

In 1997, approximately 200,000 children were in public kinship care, well below 1 percent of all U.S. children but 29 percent of all foster children.

Available evidence suggests that public kinship care has increased substantially during the late 1980s and 1990s.

Three main factors have contributed to this growth:

First, the number of non-kin foster parents has not kept pace with the number of children requiring placement, creating a greater demand for foster caregivers.

Second, child welfare agencies have developed a more positive attitude toward the use of kin as foster parents. Today, extended family members are usually given first priority when children require placement.

Third, a number of federal and state court rulings have recognized the rights of relatives to act as foster parents and to be compensated financially for doing so.

Costs and sources of funds for kinship care

Insufficient data are available to assess accurately the costs and funding sources of public kinship care. It is possible to document state policies for financing kinship care but not, for example, how many families actually receive foster care payments, grants or other public assistance.

Public and private kinship caregivers are much more likely than non-kin foster parents to receive public benefits because of their own economic status; however, public kinship caregivers are less likely than non-kin foster parents to receive services from child welfare agencies.

State policies regarding kinship care

With limited federal guidance, states' child welfare policies have developed in a manner that treats public kinship care differently from non-kin foster care. Almost all states (48 and the District of Columbia) give preference to relatives when placing a child with someone other than his or her parents, and most have been doing so for more than five years.

In addition, many states (19 and the District of Columbia) have a broad definition of kin and include persons with emotional ties to the child, such as godparents, neighbors, and family friends.

All but three states allow kin into licensed foster care programs designed for non-kin and provide foster payments to those who meet program standards. In addition, 41 States and the District of Columbia have at least one alternative foster care licensing standard for kin, and 22 States and the District of Columbia provide foster payments to kin meeting such standards.

The remaining States support public kinship providers with TANF or other payments that are generally lower than foster care payments.

Characteristics of kinship caregivers and their households

Kinship care families differ from non-kin foster families in several ways. Kinship caregivers usually receive little, if any, preparation for their new role.

Public and private kinship providers are older, more likely to be single, more likely to be African American, and more likely to have less education and lower incomes. They are more likely to receive public benefits.

Public kinship providers are less likely to report being in good health.

Children in private kinship care appear to be older than children in non-kin foster care, while children in public kinship care appear to be younger.

Children in public kinship care are much more likely to be African American and appear to have fewer physical and mental health problems than children in non-kin foster care.

Conditions under which children enter kinship care

The circumstances leading to placement in a foster home appear to be somewhat different for children in public kinship than for those in non-kin care.

Children in public kinship care are more likely to have been removed from their parents' homes because of abuse or neglect and are less likely to have been placed in foster care because of a behavioral problem or conflict with a parent.

The parents of children in public kinship care are more likely to have a drug or alcohol problem and are more likely to be young and never married.

To read more about kinship visit
http://www.urban.org/pubs/KinshipCare/chapter1.html.

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