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.

Displaying 101 - 110 of 576

Browse Other Topics

Case Study on Family-Based Care. ACE Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia

Simon Kanyemob, Shoshon Tama, Gabriel Walder - Alliance for Children Everywhere (ACE), 2020

The goal of this case study is to demonstrate a working model of family-based care in Zambia which can produce a replicable framework that can be modified for other regions and circumstances.

How We Care

Family for Every Child, 2020

How We Care is an initiative of Family for Every Child designed for those working with children and families across the world, to help them to learn from other practitioners. These pages showcase a variety of their practice, in order to generate learning and exchange across the Alliance and beyond.

View Website

Elderly Grandparents as Caregivers of Children Affected or Infected by HIV and AIDS in Namibia

Eveline N. Kalomo & Simon George Taukeni - Biopsychosocial Perspectives and Practices for Addressing Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases, 2020

This foundational chapter attempts to provide readers with content to assist in their understanding of the characteristics, role, and experiences of kinship elderly caregivers of children affected and/or infected by HIV and AIDS.

View Article

Original Research: Kin-Care and Well-Being for Children and Youth in Cameroon’s Intersecting Uncertainties

Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg - NEOS Volume 12, Issue 2, 2020

This study of distributed parenting and new ideas about what it means to raise a child properly is informed by over three decades of research among the Bamiléké.

Child Welfare and Child Protection: An Introduction

David Royse and Austin Griffiths, 2020

This book prepares future child welfare professionals to tackle the complex and challenging work associated with responding to child maltreatment.

View Book

American Indian & Alaska Native Grandfamilies: Helping Children Thrive Through Connection to Family and Cultural Identity

Generations United, 2020

This toolkit is designed to give resources and tips to child welfare agencies, other government agencies and nonprofit organizations, so they can better serve all American Indian and Alaska Native grandfamilies regardless of child welfare involvement.

Support Kinship Caregivers: How Child Welfare Agencies Can Prioritize Kin Families During COVID-19

Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2020

This one-page factsheet from the Annie E. Casey Foundation makes the case for supporting kinship care during the COVID-19 pandemic and offers suggestions on how to support kin families, find funding to support these families, and embark on new partnerships.

African American Grandfamilies: Helping Children Thrive Through Connection to Family and Culture

Generations United, 2020

This toolkit is designed to give resources and tips to child welfare agencies, other government agencies and nonprofit organizations, so they can better serve all African American grandfamilies.

Narrative and Dramatic Approaches to Children’s Life Story with Foster, Adoptive and Kinship Families

Joan Moore, 20 Dec 2019

This book outlines narrative and dramatic approaches to improve vulnerable family relationships. It provides a model which offers new ways for parents to practise communicating with their children and develop positive relationships.

View Book

“Roll back the years”: A study of grandparent special guardians' experiences and implications for social work policy and practice in England

Helen Hingley‐Jones, Lucille Allain, Helen Gleeson, Bismark Twumasi - Child & Family Social Work, 13 Dec 2019

This paper reports a small qualitative research study where 10 sets of grandparents were interviewed to explore their journey to becoming GSGs and to theorize their subsequent experiences.

View Article