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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Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children - Chinese

UN General Assembly A/RES/64/142 , 24 Feb 2010

Les lignes directrices relatives à la protection de remplacement pour les enfants

L'Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies A/RES/64/142, 24 Feb 2010

Les lignes directrices pour la prise en charge alternative des enfants ont été endorsées par l'Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies, dans le sillage de la commémoration du 20e anniversaire de la Convention des Nations Unies relative aux droits de l’enfant.

Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children - Arabic

UN General Assembly A/RES/64/142, 24 Feb 2010

The Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children were endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly on 20th November 2009, in connection with the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This momentous day marked a culmination of years of discussions and negotiations led by the Government of Brazil, in partnership with Group of Friends and civil society.

Directrices sobre las modalidades alternativas de cuidado de los niños

UN General Assembly A/RES/64/142, 24 Feb 2010

Las directrices sobre las modalidades alternativas de cuidado de los niños fueron endosados por la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas el 20 de noviembre de 2009, en conexión con el 20a aniversario de la Convención de los Derechos del Niño de la ONU.

Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children - English

UN General Assembly A/RES/64/142, 23 Feb 2010

Liberia: Regulations for the Appropriate Use and Conditions of Alternative Care for Children

Government of Liberia, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare , 01 Feb 2010

Regulations and tools designed to create the basis for reforming welfare institutions for the safe and appropriate administration of alternative care.

In Locos Parentis: To deliver the best for looked after children, the state must be a confident parent

Celia Hannon, Claudia Wood, Louise Bazalgette , 2010

This report by the UK-based independent think tank, Demos, considers what the UK care system would look like if it were reconfigured to avoid the delay, instability, and abrupt transitions many young people experience. It demonstrates how this type of system could also be less costly to the states in both the short and long term.

The Mockingbird Family Model: An Innovative Approach for Child Welfare Reform

The Mockingbird Society, 2010

From preventative strategies to transitional and permanency solutions, the Mockingbird Family Model (MFM) offers a comprehensive support structure for families and children across the continuum of the child welfare experience. This resource briefly describes the MFM and its current activities.