Kinship Care | Better Care Network

Kinship Care

Kinship care is the full-time care of a child by a relative or another member of the extended family. This type of arrangement is the most common form of out of home care throughout the world and is typically arranged without formal legal proceedings. In many developing countries, it is essentially the only form of alternative family care available on a significant scale.

In the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, kinship care is the primary mechanism that has enabled a vast majority of children who have lost both parents to remain in family care in their community.

Kinship care offers many advantages over other forms of care for children not able to live with their parents. It allows family relationships to continue, maintains the child within her culture and community, and avoids the anxieties related to placements with unfamiliar adults.

Kinship care is more successful with immediate family members, rather than distant relatives. Children may be treated differently than the caretaker’s own children, and exploited, abused or denied access to education and health services. Kinship care has also been shown to result in the delayed reunification of a child and parents, either because the family is comfortable with the situation, there are financial disincentives for returning the child, or social services are less active in moving the case forward.

In order to reduce the incidence of such problems, the use of kinship care should be appropriately monitored by the local authority or a protection agency. Children in kinship care have a right to protection and family support services. However, it must be recognized that kinship care has a positive effect on many children's lives. Placing requirements on kinship arrangements that unnecessarily intefere with or interrupt this traditional caretaking practice should be avoided.

Kinship care may be an option for child protection agencies to consider when a child is without adequate family care. The decision to use kinship care will depend on what is in the child’s best interests, and should involve a careful assessment of the child’s opinions, the family’s ability to care for the child, and permanency planning in order to work towards timely family reunification. Financial support is an area for debate since, while it can enable a family to care for a child, it may also encourage relatives to keep a child for monetary gain.

The resources found in this section provide policy guidance and country examples on the use of kinship care.

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The Impact of Kinship Networks on Foster Care Children's Outcomes

Scott C. Leon & Daniel A. Dickson - Family Relations, 27 Sep 2018

The objective of this study was to identify different kin and fictive kin network support profiles available to children in foster care and examine whether these profiles predict behavioral outcomes.

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The Effectiveness of Interventions for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: A Meta-Analysis

Ko Ling Chan, Mengtong Chen, Kin Ming Camilla Lo, Qiqi Chen, Susan J. Kelley, Patrick Ip - Research on Social Work Practice, 11 Sep 2018

The research objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of intervention programs that aim to enhance the well-being of grandparent caregivers and the developmental outcomes of grandchildren and identify useful program components.

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The Effectiveness of Interventions for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Ko Ling Chan, Mengtong Chen, Kin Ming Camilla Lo, Qiqi Chen, Susan J. Kelley, Patrick Ip - Research on Social Work Practice, 11 Sep 2018

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of intervention programs that aim to enhance the well-being of grandparent caregivers and the developmental outcomes of grandchildren and identify useful program components.

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Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Children: A Formative Evaluation of UNICEF’S Child Protection Programme in Cambodia Volume 1

Professor Dame Carolyn Hamilton, Kara Apland, Elizabeth Yarrow & Dr Anna Mackin, with support provided by Soksan Tem & Phally Keo, on behalf of Coram International - UNICEF Cambodia, 01 Sep 2018

The objective of this evaluation was to provide evidence that can help strengthen performance and accountability with UNICEF’s work with the Royal Government of Cambodia and the myriad other authorities and organizations involved in child protection.

Raising the Children of the Opioid Epidemic: Solutions and Support for Grandfamilies

Generations United, 01 Sep 2018

This report from Generations United provides data on the opioid crisis in the US, and its impact on grandfamilies, and offers policy and program recommendations related to recently passed legislation - the Family First Prevention Services Act and the Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act.

Family Structures, Family Relationship, and Children's Perceptions of Life Satisfaction

Hayles, Olivia; Xu, Lihua; Edwards, Oliver W. - School Psychology Forum, 01 Sep 2018

This study examines family structures and children's perceptions regarding family connectedness and perceived life satisfaction (LS) using a nationally representative U.S. sample of 926 students in grades 7–10.

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Executive Summary: Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Children: A Formative Evaluation of UNICEF’S Child Protection Programme in Cambodia (Khmer Language)

UNICEF Cambodia, 01 Sep 2018

Out-of-home placement in early childhood and psychiatric diagnoses and criminal convictions in young adulthood: a population-based propensity score-matched study

Sylvana MCôté, Massimiliano Orri, Mikko Marttila, Tiina Ristikari - The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 27 Jul 2018

This study aimed to compare the rates of psychiatric diagnoses and criminal convictions in young adulthood (ages 18–25 years) among children who were first placed at ages 2–6 years with those of children who were not placed and who had similar sociodemographic and family characteristics.

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CARE: The development of an intervention for kinship carers with teenage children

Jane EK Hartley, John McAteer, Larry Doi, Ruth Jepson - Qualitative Social Work, 13 Jul 2018

This study addresses the needs of Scottish kinship carers of teenage children who have been identified as being in need of extra support.

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CARE: The development of an intervention for kinship carers with teenage children

Jane EK Hartley, John McAteer, Larry Doi and Ruth Jepson - Qualitative Social Work, 13 Jul 2018

The study addresses the needs of Scottish kinship carers of teenage children who have been identified as being in need of extra support.

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