This opinion piece from the Guardian explains why more funding and support should be directed to kinship care and other alternative care arrangements that place children with extended family, instead of adoption or foster care outside of the family. The author, Louise Tickle, cites recent research from a charity called Grandparents Plus which indicates that outcomes for children in kinship care were better than outcomes for children in foster care. "One might think that financial support would be automatic for a relative taking on the care of a young child who would otherwise cost the state a small fortune in fostering fees," writes Tickle. "Not so. Although the profile of children in kinship care might well be the same as those who end up being formally “looked after”, the support they get depends not on their need but on their legal status – are they living with relatives on a care order, and is the relative an approved foster carer? Only registered foster carers are entitled to an allowance, and not all kinship carers can meet the local authority criteria."