The purpose of this introduction of the Special Issue on Kinship Care of the Child Welfare Journal is to offer a conceptual framework for addressing the challenges involved in developing a coherent set of policies and practices with respect to kinship care. The challenges span two key tensions in the public protection and care of vulnerable children. The first concerns the appropriate scope of public interest in the welfare of other people's children: Should child welfare policy be constrained to a narrow set of functions that ensure children are adequately fed, sheltered, clothed, and protected from physical harm, or should it be unconstrained in the pursuit of a diffuse array of improvements in children's general well-being? The second concerns the appropriate locus of agency relationships in the protection and care of children: Should actions taken by non-parental agents on behalf of the interests in children be largely the informal responsibility of the particularistic agency relationships of extended kinship, tribal affiliation, and voluntary association, or should the universalistic agency relationships of child protective services (CPS) and court authority ultimately be held accountable for ensuring adequate safety, family permanence, and equal developmental opportunities for all vulnerable children?
