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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Keeping Them Home: Aboriginal Out-of-Home Care in Australia

Bruce Valentine and Mel Gray, 2006

This article examines the foster care of Aboriginal children in Australia. It discusses the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle (ACPP), the role of indigenous kinship care and the self-determination of Aboriginal people.

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Alternative Care for Children Without Primary Caregivers in Tsunami-Affected Countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand

UNICEF, 2006

An assessment of alternative care responses for children without primary caregivers in tsunami-affected regions of Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Thailand. Includes good practices, recommendations, and detailed country reports.

Elaborating A Lifelong Plan: Kinship Care

International Social Service and International Reference Center for the Rights of Children Deprived of their Family (ISS/IRC), 2006

A brief fact sheet that provides an overview of kinship care.

Consideration of Kinship Carer(s) for Emergency/Immediate Placement of a Child or Children

Carol Edwards, Edwina Brockelsby Family Rights Group UK, 2006

A template for assessing the suitability of kinship caregivers in the short term, and for planning the care of a child in kinship care. There are sections that can be given to potential caregivers to help them prepare for caring for a child.

The Eugene Declaration

Holt International Children's Services, 31 Dec 2005

Recognition of the crises affecting children and a commitment to improving the lives of children.

Orphans and Discrimination in Mozambique: An Outlay Equivalence Analysis

Virgulino Nhate, Channing Arndt, Mikkel Barslund and Katleen Van den Broeck, 2005

This paper examines childcare policy in Mozambique. It finds that vulnerability increases when orphans are placed in resource-poor kinship care arrangements.

Early Childhood Matters: Children Without Parental Care: Qualitative Alternatives

Teresa Moreno and Jan van Dongen (eds.), 2005

Collection of articles highlighting suggestions on how to improve existing mechanisms for providing adequate care. Major article on the current state of international thinking on children without parental care.

Family Matters: A Study of Institutional Child Care in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

Richard Carter - EveryChild, 2005

A report discussing the advent and perpetuation of institutional care in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union prior to and since the end of the communist regime. It also provides examples of family-based care as models of care to substitute institutional care and offers recommendations to donors, NGOs and governments for child care reform based on their experience in CEE and FSU.

How Communities are Coping with the Impact of HIV and AIDS on Children: Findings from Uganda and Zambia

Jane Chege, 2005

Assessment of pilot programs employing World Vision Community Care Coalition model in Uganda and Zambia.

Leaving Care

National Youth In Care Network, 2005

This one-page document identifies some difficulties that youth face in leaving institutional care. Offers recommendations to assist financial, emotional, and educational preparation for emancipation.