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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Care Reform in Ghana: Achievements and Challenges

Fred Sakyi Boafo, Yvonne Norman and Kwabena Frimpong-Manso, 11 Sep 2017

This presentation by key actors in children's care reform in Ghana provides an overview of the demographic data of Ghana and offers a thorough review of the situation of children's care, and care reform efforts, in the country.

Care Reform in Uganda: Achievements and Challenges

Jane Stella Ogwang, Principal Probation and Welfare Officer, 11 Sep 2017

This presentation by the Principal Probation and Welfare Officer of Uganda outlines the basic demographic data of Uganda and provides an overview of the situation of children's care, and care reform efforts, in the country.

Placement Stability of Children in Informal Kinship Care: Age, Poverty and Involvement in the Child Welfare System

Eunju Lee, Mi Jin Choi, Yeonggeul Lee and Catherine Kramer - Child Welfare Journal, 01 Sep 2017

This study from the Special Issue on Kinship Care of the Child Welfare Journal examines the characteristics of children and their caregivers, the extent of children’s prior involvement in the child welfare system and the factors associated with placement instability in informal kinship care.

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Child Abuse and Neglect in Charitable Children’s Institutions in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya: A Challenge of Context

Paula Braitstein, Samuel Ayaya, David Ayuku, Allison DeLong, and Lukoye Atwoli - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care, 03 Aug 2017

This study investigated the incidence of maltreatment experienced by children living outside parental care, comparing the prevalence of abuse between children living with extended family, children living in institutional care, and children living or working on the street.

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Educational Support for Orphaned Children: What Can We Learn from the African Extended Family Structure?

Kholofelo Charlotte Motha - Children & Society, 28 Jul 2017

This paper is based on the findings from a qualitative study with orphaned children in South Africa, their teachers and caregivers, which investigated the capacity of extended families affected by poverty and HIV/AIDS to care for and support orphaned children.

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Africa Expert Consultation on Violence against Children in All Care Settings

Better Care Network & African Child Policy Forum, with support from CRS, Family for Every Child, Hope and Homes for Children and Save the Children , 21 Jul 2017

On 21-22 June 2017, the African Child Policy Forum and Better Care Network - with the support of Catholic Relief Services, Family for Every Child, Hope and Homes for Children and Save the Children - convened 40 leaders representing child rights bodies, regional economic communities, national governments and civil society in Nairobi, Kenya for the Africa Expert Consultation: Violence Against Children in All Care Settings.

Resilience amongst children living with HIV: Voices of foster parents residing in Bhambayi, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Paida Gomo, Tanusha Raniga, and Siphiwe Motloung - Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 20 Jul 2017

This study explored the resilience of children living with HIV from the perspective of foster parents residing in a community in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Creating Compassionate Foster Care: Lessons of Hope from Children and Families in Crisis

Janet C. Mann and Dr. Molly Kretchmar-Hendricks - Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 13 Jul 2017

This book draws on over 20 years of work in foster care, along with current attachment research and theory, to question traditional foster care models, make recommendations for improved models of care and interventions, and aid social workers and care professionals to better understand families in crisis and inform their practice.

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Promising Practices When Working with Immigrant Kinship Caregivers

Cristina Ritchie Cooper & Elizabeth Christy - Child Law Practice Today, 01 Jul 2017

In addition to discussing the legal implications of immigration status on foster placements, this article provides promising practices and other tools for those who work closely with immigrant caregivers in the child welfare system.

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Using Kinship Navigation Services to Support the Family Resource Needs, Caregiver Self-Efficacy, and Placement Stability of Children in Informal and Formal Kinship Care

Michele Cranwell Schmidt and Julie Treinen - Child Welfare Journal, 01 Jul 2017

This study from the Special Issue on Kinship Care of the Child Welfare Journal examined if kinship navigation services can improve family needs, caregiver self-efficacy and placement stability of children in the care of their grandparents or other relatives.

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