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 First International Conference in Africa on Family Based Care: Conference Declarations and Recommendations

ANPPCAN and Conference Delegates, 29 Oct 2009

Summary of conference delegates' declarations and recommendations

An Examination of Theory and Promising Practice for Achieving Permanency for Teens before They Age out of Foster Care

Children and Youth Services Review , 28 Oct 2009

This paper examines the efficacy of Independent Living (IL) services in the United States in preparing foster youth to live “independently”, and calls into question the appropriateness of an “independence” goal for youth aging out of foster care.

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Traditional kinship foster care in northern Ghana: the experiences and views of children, carers and adults in Tamale

Ahmed Bawa Kuyini, Abdul Razak Alhassan, Inga Tollerud, Hanne Weld, Iddi Haruna - Child & Family Social Work, 05 Oct 2009

For this study, surveys were employed to explore the experiences of children in care and their carers about traditional fostering.

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Conference Declarations and Recommendations: First International Conference in Africa on Family Based Care for Children

ANPPCAN, 30 Sep 2009

Summary of conference declarations and recommendations prepared by over 400 conference participants emphasizing the crucial importance of family based care for children without parental care.

http://www.crin.org/docs/Conference%20Declarations%20and%20Recommendations.doc

Kinship Care: An Afrocentric Perspective

Lynda Ince - Institute of Applied Social Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham , 01 Apr 2009

This thesis explores the experiences and meanings that are attributed to kinship care by caregivers, young people of African descent, and social workers.

Kinship Care: An Afrocentric Perspective

Lynda Ince - University of Birmingham, 01 Apr 2009

This thesis explores the experiences and meanings that are attributed to kinship care by caregivers, young people of African descent, and social workers.

Life Improvement, Life Satisfaction and Care Arrangement Among AIDS Orphans in Rural Henan, China

Qun Zhao, Xiaoming Li, Xiaoyi Fang, Bonita Stanton, Guoxiang Zhao, Junfeng Zhao, and Liying Zhang, 20 Jan 2009

This study aims to compare perceived life improvement and life satisfaction among double orphans in 3 main care arrangements (group home, AIDS orphanage, kinship care) in 2 rural Chinese counties.

Alternative Care for Children in Southern Africa: Progress, Challenges and Future Directions

UNICEF, 09 Jan 2009

This report, prepared for UNICEF East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) assesses the capacity in Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia to manage alternative care systems for children.

Manual for the Measurement of Indicators for Children in Formal Care

Better Care Network and UNICEF, 2009

Manual to assist countries in strengthening their information system around children in formal care through data collection around 15 global indicators

Toolkit for Positive Change: Providing Family-Focused, Results-Driven and Cost-Effective Programming for Orphans and Vulnerable Children

Save the Children Federation, 2009

Documents the strategies of The Positive Change: Children, Communities and Care (PC3) Program - a five-year (2004-2009) integrated and comprehensive program designed to provide care and support to more than half a million orphaned and vulnerable children and their families throughout the country of Ethiopia.