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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Supporting Kinship Care in Eastern and Southern Africa

UNICEF, Changing the Way We Care, 21 Feb 2023

In this short video, practitioners from across the region discuss why supporting kinship care is so important, the support needs of kinship care families, and lessons learnt in supporting kinship care.

Learning Brief: Family-Based Alternative Care

Changing the Way We Care, 01 Feb 2023

This learning brief was developed as part of Changing the Way We Care's 2022 annual report and shares learning on family-based alternative care from Guatemala, Moldova, India and Kenya and links the reader to additional CTWWC resources on the topic.

Solidarity Exclusions: Problematizing Kinship and Humanitarianism from the Perspective of Transnational Adoption

Diana Marre, Jessaca Leinaweaver, 11 Nov 2022

This article explores the concept of solidaridad, considers its enduring currency in kinship discourse in Spain, and analyzes various case studies from the authors' respective research projects.

Supporting Kinship care in Eastern and Southern Africa

ESARO Regional Learning Platform, UNICEF, 26 Oct 2022

Kinship care (care by extended family or friends of the family) is the most common form of alternative care in the region, yet also the least well-supported. This webinar explains why it is vital to invest in kinship care and provide examples of promising practic

Kinship Carers

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, 22 Sep 2022

The Scottish Parliament’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee has published its latest report on kinship carers, calling for improved support for carers.

Grandparents Raising their Grandchildren: Implications for the Vulnerable Children of Eswatini

Ncamsile D. Motsa, Pholoho J. Morojele, 19 Sep 2022

The study aims to comprehend the ways in which being raised by grandparents, influence the vulnerable children’s schooling. The aim is to contribute insights to our understanding on how these children’s education towards academic success could be enhanced.

Kinship Care: The Development of Inter-agency Guidance on Kinship Care

Family for Every Child, 15 Jul 2022

This webinar shares the process that Family for Every Child is using to facilitate the development of global inter-agency guidance on Kinship Care, aimed at policy makers and programme managers.

Kinship Care: Evaluating Policy and Practice

Susan Burke, Jane Bouey, Carol Madsen, Louise Costello, Glen Schmidt, Patricia Barkaskas, Nicole White, Caitlin Alder, Rabiah Murium, 22 Jun 2022

This study explores the state of kinship care in British Columbia (BC), Canada 10 years after the implementation of major policy reform designed by the provincial government to improve services to kinship caregivers.

Understanding the Transnational Care Arrangements: Experiences in Nonparental Care in the Case of the Filipino Transnational Families

Jeffrey R. Ballaret, 01 Jun 2022

This study investigates how experiences and practices of transnational care arrangements are negotiated from the perspective of the nonparental carers. It specifically aims to understand its dynamics and patterns in shaping care relationships, normative familial values and the hope to reconstitute the family amidst migration-induced care.

‘One Hand Does Not Bring Up a Child:’ Child Fostering Among Single Mothers in Nairobi Slums

Cassandra Cotton, Shelley Clark, Sangeetha Madhavan, 11 May 2022

Childrearing in sub-Saharan Africa is often viewed as collaborative, where children benefit from support from kin. For single mothers living in informal settlements, kin networks may be highly dispersed and offer little day-to-day childrearing support, but may provide opportunities for child fostering. This study conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, uses a linked lives approach, where single mothers’ connections with kin and romantic partners may influence whether – and what type of – kin are relied on to support child fostering.